Editor-In-Chief Georges Mghames English Editor Kenneth Mortimer
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ndu Issue 54 March 2012 March 2012 How beautiful is the snow! How Hail the snow, covering the mountains, draping the generous is the snow! A true blessing slopes, concealing rooftops, and clothing snow-laden from the heavens above! And trees with its immaculate coat. countless are the blessings that fall Hail this majestic beauty, swirling down in the fog and upon us from the sky! However, we in the moonlight; and when dawn breaks, snowflakes ignore, shun, and abandon them! become like flocks of white doves. Hasn’t God bestowed a great blessing Hail the snow, laying down a soft and yielding carpet and upon Lebanon? Isn’t this country a bringing back childhood memories. Hail the icy crystals real boon sent to us, and only us, by that lie like a beautiful woman. heaven? Still, we scorn its natural Hail the snow in all its states and shapes. When it melts, wonders, heritage, and future. it filters into the earth and rocks, and streams become And if we cast blame on the “others”, rivers. a verse written by Abul Tayyeb al- Hail the snow, a pleasure for the eyes to behold and a Mutanabi, the renowned Arab poet, delight for the spirit. Snow triggers our imagination to warns us: picture fields in bloom and spring in feast. Snow preludes “Whenever a branch grows, Man caressing breezes into softer tomorrows. transforms it into a spear shaft and Hail the snow, nostalgia of innocence, purity, and affixes it with a spearhead.” clarity… of conscience, goodwill, and good repute… and We are this “Man”, what a disgrace! generosity. Editorial staff NDU Spirit A periodical about campus life at Notre Dame University - Louaïze. Editor-in-Chief Georges Mghames English Editor Kenneth Mortimer Reporting Tatiana Rouhana Arabic Typing Lydia Zgheïb Photographers Abdo Bejjani & Melhem Bou Chebel Layout & design Rebecca Mourani Print Meouchy & Zakaria (N.B. Opinions are those of the authors and do not engage editors.) Telefax: (09) 214205 w:: www.ndu.edu.lb/research/ndupress/spirit contentsUNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM Academic and Student Activities The President’s 14 COMMUNIO Message 15 LERC Activities, participation in conferences and visitors 07 Fr. Walid Moussa Academic Affairs WEERC 08 Trip of NDU President and 22 Solar Technologies Project VPSRD to USA 22 ALMEE-WEERC ENPI MED ALGAE Project 08 Accreditation Committee FE Report 24 ME Graduate’s Success 24 NDU Team at IMECE of ASME 09 Alumni Office 25 Khalil-el-Daher – Sarmad Rihani Award Alumni Awards Recipients 26 Electromagnetics Education Workshop 2011 – 2012 26 A Third Millennium Classroom 12 First PSPAD-Alumni Reunion FH 28 Malta Conference 28 Audio Visual Facilities Cash Flow film release FNAS 29 Voluntary Sustainability Standards – Hansman 29 Markov Models in Bioinformatics – Dr. Sami Khuri 30 Alternative Tourism – Gilbert Moukhaiber FNHS 30 Enteral Feeding UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM Issue 54 March 2012 UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM Opinion and Culture 43 Future Models of Citizenship – FPSPAD Father Boulos Wehbe 31 Clean Elections Campaign 44 Translation and Culture – 31 Two FPSPAD Projects Pr. Abdelkader Sellami 32 Religion and Politics in Netherlands 48 Course: Discovering & Living Green Ethics – 33 The Imam and the Pastor – International Dr. Elsa Sattout Relations Club 50 Introduire la Pédophilie – 33 Intercultural Dialogue in the Oman Desert Dr. Walid H. Sarkis 34 Employment in the Public Sector Interna- 53 Comment Repenser l’État Libanais ? – 34 tional Day to Counter Violence Dr. Louis Hobeika 35 Training on Protocol and Negotiation 54 The Economic Roots of the Arab Spring – 35 Psychology of Power Conference Dr. Louis Hobeika 55 A la mémoire du R.P. Abdallah Dagher s.j. – CSO Antoine Sfeir 36 NDU Students and SESOBEL 57 The Arab Spring Future in Egypt – 36 Father Robert’s Institute – Deaf at NDU Dr. Georges Labaki STAFF 59 Charles Dickens Bicentenary – 37 Christmas Spiritual Retreat Kenneth Mortimer 61 Mahatma Ghandi – K.J.M. NLC 62 My Teaching Philosophy – 38 Faith and the Young: NLC-Rotary Dr. Tanos G. Hage 38 Activities: Concert and Honoring of 64 Impact of Art on Society – Students Hasmig Jasmine Boyadjian 66 My Summer at Notre Dame University, SHOUF CAMPUS 2011- Sophia Martinez 39 School Principals’ Lunch 66 Summer at NDU – Philip Chlela 39 Christmas Banquet for Shouf Campus 67 Poème: Lettre à mon université – Family Dr. Abdo Kahi Christmas Recital 40 73 Something for your grey matter – 40 Saleem Assaf and Nader Al-Atat crossword 41 Christmas Mass 41 George Khabbaz. Actor 41 Badih Abou Shakra and Drama SOCIAL 42 Obituaries Issue 54 March 2012 The President’s Message Celebrating Our Jubilee This year, 2012, Notre Dame University-Louaize is The Jubilee is a time for thinking further ahead. We should celebrating the Silver Jubilee of its foundation twenty-five all think together about how we may help academically weak years ago. This beautiful hill where the campus now stands students to succeed, successful students to maintain their was then crowned by no more than a little forest of pine performance, and potential scholarly students to become trees, an image of Lebanon’s living nature and of the ever- real scholars. We should think about how to enrich the green Lebanon itself. When the official decree was issued learning experiences of our students and encourage them to by the Lebanese government, no one thought that in twenty- commit themselves to excellence in knowledge. five years NDU would grow so large and so fast. No one The Jubilee is a time for inspiration. The inspiration of good knew at that time that NDU was so soon to become one examples is one of the best and most effective incentives to of the leading universities in Lebanon and the region. At learning. The good example can come from an individual, that time we simply had the idea of launching a Maronite a team, or an institution. Following the good example does Catholic University adopting the American standards of not require the invention of the wheel; it is a short-cut to higher education. success, provided that we keep our experiences relevant. Little did we imagine in those days that in twenty-five years The Jubilee is a fine time for aspirations. It is highly NDU’s student enrollment would leap from 155 to its significant to have clear objectives for the short term and present more than 7,000, or that the number of full-time the long term, for the coming five years and for the coming faculty members would go up from a mere twenty-six to about twenty-five years. One good way to ensure these is to sit two hundred as today, or that the number of undergraduate down all together and to work out a strategic plan, to see degree programs would rise from five to forty-six, with what we want for NDU five years from now and what we nineteen more at the graduate level. Nor could we foresee want for NDU twenty-five years from now. Here is the real how the premises were to shift from old temporary buildings challenge, and if we meet it successfully this will be the the to the state-of-the-art brand new campus, fully equipped with real celebration of our first Jubilee. all facilities, that gladdens our hearts today. Today, after all this immense and rapid growth, the celebration of our Jubilee brings a further perspective; this is a time to reflect, to think, to inspire and to aspire. Fr. Walid Moussa, O.M.M. Yes, this Jubilee is a time for reflection, for our campus President activities should bear witness to our moral and spiritual values. Notre Dame University-Louaize Our daily ethical conduct and our attitude towards each other should reflect the values in which we believe. Respect for policies, rules and regulations is one way of supporting the cultural and academic structure of our University and of being a reflection of those moral and spiritual values. 07 Academic Affairs Trip of NDU President and VPSRD to USA On January 28, 2012, NDU President Fr. Walid Moussa and VPSRD Dr. A. Eid joined hundreds of top leaders of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) in Washington D.C, where the 2012 ACCU Annual Meeting was being held. The theme of this year’s meeting, Catholic Higher Education and Culture: Advancing Gospel Values and Cultivating Civility, reflected on how Catholic higher education can both embrace and challenge culture in order to advance society, offering a model of civility that respects the dignity of all persons. On January 30, Dr. Eid flew to Montreal, Canada, to hold a series of meetings with Bishop Joseph Khoury, Fr. Fadi Helwanji, and friends of NDU. Possibilities of cooperation between NDU and the Lebanese Canadian A cheerful Dr. Assaad Eid in Montreal with NDU friends Mrs. Waked and Mr. community were discussed and an action plan was Semaan. drafted. As a follow-up, Dr. Eid will be visiting Montreal and Ottawa, June 2012, to meet NDU’s friends in Ottawa and to participate in the Lebanese Festival that is going be held in Montreal in mid-June 2012. From the Executive Accreditation Committee This year, the President selected two members of the of the BOT bylaws, in particular the section regarding Accreditation Committee, Dr. Roger Hajjar and Mr. Simon the President's appointment. In the light of the latter Abou Jaoude, to be part of the NDU team at NEASC's request, NEASC may propose that the President of St. annual meeting, in addition to the NDU President, the Anselm’s College should visit NDU in June 2012 since Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr.