Commencement 2011 the Entrepreneurial Edge
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Summer 2011 Vol. X, No. 4 No. X, Vol. 2011 Summer Commencement 2011 The Entrepreneurial Edge MainGateAmerican University of Beirut Quarterly Magazine Departments: Letters 2 President’s view: what the Arab Spring means for AUB Inside the Gate Views from Campus Picture this: debke meets broadway, Nahr Ibrahim before the flood, 6 Commencement 2011, Folk Dance Festival; search for the Byzantine Anastasis Church; citizen revolt in the Middle East; AUBMC’s 2020 Vision Reviews A Photographic Remembrance of Lebanon by John Waterbury; Arab Media: PGMC – Polity Global Media and Communication Series coauthored by Nabil Dajani (BA ‘57, MA ‘60) Beyond Bliss Street Legends and Legacies First Among Equals John Wortabet (1827-1908) 41 Alumni Profile 14 under 44 Fourteen young AUB entrepreneurs on the best days, 42 the worst days, and their five-year dreams Reflections Campus Constellations Before Harvard, before the Smithsonian, 46 Owen Gingerich had a jewel in Lee Observatory Alumni Happenings Reunion 2011— Renewing Our Promise 49 Class Notes Najib W. Saab (BAR ’78) jointly awarded the Zayed International Prize for 56 Environment; Susan L. Ziadeh (MA ’78) appointed ambassador to Qatar; Tarek Yamani (BS ’01) takes music from Montreux to the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency at the Kennedy Center In Memoriam 66 MainGate is published quarterly in Production American University of Beirut Cover Beirut by the American University Office of Communications Commencement 2011 (© Office of of Beirut for distribution to alumni, Office of Communications Communications/Ahmad El Itani) former faculty, friends, and Randa Zaiter PO Box 11–0236 supporters worldwide. Riad El Solh 1107 2020 Photography Beirut, Lebanon Editor AUB Jafet Library Archives Tel: 961-1-353228 Ada H. Porter Ahmad El Itani Fax: 961-1-363234 Director of Communications Hasan Nisr New York Office Nishan Simonian 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Responsible Director 8th Floor Nabil Dajani Contributing Writers New York, NY 10017–2303 Maureen Ali Tel: 212-583-7600 Art Direction and Design Fax: 212-583-7651 Office of Communications Jean-Marie Cook Najib Attieh Susanne Lane Zeina Tawil Sierra Millman [email protected] Printing Tomoko Furukawa Barbara Rosica www.aub.edu.lb Lane Press The Entrepreneurial Edge MainGate Summer 2011 26 30 33 The (Beta) Twitter Beating the Biases Souk Sabra Revolution For women entrepreneurs, running a Students put their engineering and successful business is just the first landscape design skills to the test to Nurturing networking for a new kind of challenge improve one of Beirut’s busiest markets revolution 36 38 Their Voices Heard Checklist For AUB volunteers teach languages to Successful Start-Ups migrant workers You’ve got a great idea for a new business. Or is it? A seasoned entrepreneur lists 10 steps to success. President's view MainGate speaks to President the region and bring informed exper- a bridge between East and West. Dorman about the impact of the tise to policymakers, journalists, and Because the University is based on Arab Spring on AUB—and the pundits in the United States. Most of the model of a broad liberal arts opportunities it might present. the talking heads in the US media are education—which came to fruition exposed to events at a distance, so in the American context, but whose MainGate: Have the events of the the AUB perspective is quite different precepts stem from the European Arab Spring posed any particular and this presents a huge opportunity Enlightenment—we are by nature a challenges—or opportunities—for for AUB. As a follow-up to the panels vanguard of western educational ide- the University? this spring we are planning a similar als but grounded very much in the I think for those who are engaged in program in other locations in the US Middle East in terms of our regional teaching the youth of Lebanon it is and internationally. What is fascinat- aspirations, research orientation, and a challenge to try to integrate what ing, of course, is that we may not the composition of our faculty and is happening so unpredictably in the choose to bring the same panelists student populations. These circum- world around us into the class cur- and certainly our reflections will be stances make us very much a de facto riculum. We have had a couple of different than they were in the spring. interlocutor and one that I believe can panel discussions on campus this and will play a decisive role. spring, and in mid-May four speakers During the panel discussions in from AUB joined me in presenting a the United States, what types What could be the short and long series of programs on the Arab spring of questions regarding the Arab term implications of regional in New York and Washington, DC: Spring did you get from the change for AUB, in terms of Rami Khouri, Rami Zurayk, Rima Afifi, audience? admissions, for example? Is there and Karim Makdisi. The whole thrust The panel discussions were more of a financial impact? behind those panels was that AUB a give and take about events in the In the short term, while we are con- could bring something quite differ- region rather than a static question cerned by the implications of events in ent to conversations about the Arab and answer session. Our listeners Syria, for the most part AUB has not Spring because we have faculty who were especially interested in the indig- yet been greatly affected by changes have been working for some time on enous perspectives of those who are in the region. It is too soon to judge issues related to youth, media, the directly involved in the revolts as well what will happen in the longer term. economy, and politics. These things as in the possible prognoses for social The majority of our student applicants are at the heart of the revolutionary change. (Links to videos and tran- are Lebanese and though admissions movement or citizens’ revolt as we scripts of the events are on page 13.) are very slightly down from last year, refer to it. it’s hard to say that this has anything I think the value AUB brings to Can AUB be seen as an to do with regional events. the table is that we can present schol- interlocutor between the West and ars who are trained in the American the Arab World? tradition but who live and research in From its earliest days, AUB has been 2 MainGate Summer 2011 | www.aub.edu.lb/maingate President's view Are the students engaged in the to contribute their talents to the bet- a period of Middle Eastern history in Arab Spring? Are you seeing terment of the societies in which which the outward political stability of increased activism on campus? they live. We hope that through their recent decades has now been rec- Students at AUB, predominantly experiences at AUB, our students will ognized as political stagnation, which Lebanese, have been more concerned become instruments for social change people in various countries have finally by the long process of government and to effect that change in their found the courage and the means to formation in their own country and public and professional lives. challenge. How this will finally play the question of how the international out, and whether it will result in demo- community will choose to interact with Regional change is leading to cratic systems that restive populations the new cabinet. So from this point myriad research opportunities are striving to attain, is too soon of view we have not seen increased across many of AUB’s areas to know. Will they have the staying student activism on campus in regard of expertise. Is AUB planning power to achieve their aims? How will to the broad phenomenon of the to introduce any new research their confrontations with armed forces Arab Spring. By contrast, the over- initiatives, academic programs, end? I do feel that AUB is in a unique seas students I have spoken to from or other activities in response to position to observe and monitor these Egypt and Yemen, for example, are recent political events? developments. very concerned with what is happen- Many AUB faculty members are —M.A. ing in their own countries, which is already involved in research into many understandable. of the factors underlying the Arab Questions for the president? Email Spring. How this research will mani- [email protected] You have described universities fest itself will depend on the initiative as positive instruments for social and personal commitments of our change. How is AUB playing that professors who are closely observing role in the Middle East today? what is happening. AUB is very involved in outreach projects throughout the community. I Over its 145-year history, AUB cannot think of a single faculty that is has witnessed many significant not engaged in some way in effecting changes in Lebanon and the change in the community by bring- region. How have these shaped ing education to different regions or AUB? How is the Arab Spring introducing self-help projects. different? AUB ardently espouses civic I suppose you could say that from engagement as an important part the beginning AUB’s history has been of our students’ experience, as we closely tied to changes in Lebanon feel that those who receive a fine and the region. The Arab Spring is, education also have a responsibility in many ways, the consequence of www.aub.edu.lb/maingate | MainGate Summer 2011 3 from/to the editor First, as a follow-up to MainGate’s Beirut spring issue, a note on a recent historic preservation issue roiling in certain circles of the city.