News
At the annual SGA elections which took place last week at AUK, 57.75% of the student population participated in the election process.
504 of the 711 students who voted indicated that they prefer on-line voting; 138 said they prefer paper and pencil ballots, and 41 were undecided.
500 felt the speeches were helpful; 121 said they were not and 62 were undecided.
The new SGA cabinet members are:
Public Relations Officer: Abdulrahman Al-Farhan
Media Officer: Ala'a Ali Reda
Social Officer: Edmound Eid
Cultural Officer: Nizar Mishal
IEP/Freshem Officer: Abdulrazzaq Al-Mahmeed (unopposed)
Secretary: Tareq Al-Rifaai (unopposed)
Treasurer: Abdulatif Al-Eisa
Vice President:Ali Al-Tukhaim
President: Sami Maan
Members of the new SGA
Ala'a Ali Reda the new media officer for 2007/2008
Students congratulate Sami Maan the president of the SGA
The peer academic advising program is coordinated by the Student Success Center, Division of Student Affairs. It is comprised of Dean's List students who serve as Peer Academic Advisors. This voluntary service is created to provide a mutual connection between both existing and newly admitted students. Peer Academic Advisors offer support in areas of educational planning, advice with course selection, academic support advice, and academic information during PAR, Pre-Registration and Registration week. Peer Academic Advisors offer their services to Freshman Students only and are guided by the Student Success Center Professional Advisors. PALs serve as mentors and leaders to the AUK student body.
PALs Members:
Abdulla AbdelRahman
Ala'a Ali-Redaa
Hussien Nour-Elddine
Nada Darras
Valentina Noronha
3rd Annual Awards Night at American University of Kuwait, under the sponsorship of the National Bank of Kuwait
The American University of Kuwait on June 2nd 2007 will hold its 3rd Annual Awards Night, to honor and reward exemplary students, faculty and staff for their outstanding performance in all areas of university life. The awards are not aimed solely at academic excellence, but also bring to the spotlight excellence in athletics, leadership skills, organizational skills, and campus service.
The Student Government will award five staff and faculty members in categories that include mentorship, innovation, and most supportive.
The final two awards will be the Dean's Award and the President's Award, which will go to truly unique, well-rounded, high-achieving individuals at the university.
It is to be noted, that the event is under the sponsorship of the national bank of Kuwait. AUK and NBK signed in June 2005, a memorandum of understanding establishing a 5-year strategic alliance between the University and the Bank during which time both parties benefit and meet a sustainable social and educative responsibility in serving the community.
The event will commence at 7 PM in the AUK Auditorium, and is only open to students and their guests.
Teaching Liberal Arts in Kuwait
Welcome to the Second Liberal Arts conference at American University of Kuwait. I extend this welcome to all faculty, students, and visitors, and most especially to our Dartmouth guests John and Helene Rassias, of Dartmouth College and the Rassias Foundation in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. John Rassias is recognized world-wide as the creator of the Rassias method of foreign language instruction, and he is here to share with AUK faculty and students his method which builds language skills on a foundation of intercultural understanding and communication, both important aspects of contemporary liberal-arts education.
Founded in 2004, American University of Kuwait is an independent, private, equal opportunity, and co-educational institution of higher education dedicated to offering our students a quality education based on the American model of a liberal-arts College - such as Dartmouth, with whom AUK has a Memorandum of Understanding. In 2004 Dartmouth College, recognized as one of the top American universities and famous for its commitment to liberal-arts education, hosted a conference titled "The Liberal Education: Dead or Alive?" The keynote conference speaker was Raimond Gaita, a philosophy professor of King's College London. He told an anecdote about the Thatcher years when universities felt under siege from the market-oriented conservative government. King's College faculty told a junior government minister they had invited that if a university eliminated its philosophy department, it couldn't be called a university. "That's OK," the minister replied. "We'll call it something else."
The concept of liberal education as a career-building foundation in the sciences, business and entrepreneurship invites a broad intellectual exchange, and this is our primary motivation for developing a tradition of academic conferences centered on the concept of Liberal Arts education in the 21st century. As we all know, education is about more than subjects, disciplines, and a curriculum; life is not divided into "majors." Our programs are designed to prepare students for the contemporary world where critical thinking, communication skills, and life-long learning have become imperative. The very transferability of liberal-arts skills has become a "selling" point for employers of liberal-arts graduates. These skills, variously named and numbered by the experts, include interpersonal and team-working skills, written and oral communication skills, adaptability to change, problem-solving skills, and critical, analytical, and creative thinking.
In Kuwait and the Middle East, we struggle to make the concept of Liberal Arts understood, despite the wonderful heritage of medieval Islamic science and philosophy. The Liberal Arts in the Western tradition were based on Classical philosophy and the early disciplines that shaped the education from Antiquity to the Enlightenment. Strikingly, the ancient Greek term that was translated by the Romans as "art," was techne, meaning "skill" rather than "art" in our contemporary understanding. Technai eleuteries meant the "liberal arts" in the sense of knowledge and intellectual qualities required of a Greek citizen in the age of Athenian democracy. In Rome, and then in medieval Europe, "Liberal Arts" came to mean the broad education in a whole range of knowledge not limited to a certain discipline that enables a person to gain competency in various fields and develop a civic consciousness and informed habits of thought. The usual translation of "Liberal Arts" into Arabic as "al-funoon al-hurra," from fann "art," carries the confusing implications of Fine Arts, of art as craft, or even of science as technique. The Arabic word aadaab, the plural of the singular adab, usually translated as "literature," fully corresponds to the plural "Letters" in the phrase funoon wa'l-aadaab "Arts and Letters" or al-aadaab wa'l-`uloom, "Arts and Sciences." The phrase "al-aadaab al-hurra" for "Liberal Arts" better conveys the social and intellectual aspects of reflective knowledge, of enlightened judgment, and of educated and cultivated qualities required for meaningful participation in society.
In affirming our commitment to the Liberal Arts mission, we often argue that the learning skills developed through liberal education sometimes are valued by faculty and employers alike over narrow professional knowledge. However, it is important to emphasize that the argument for Liberal Arts does not constitute an argument against professional knowledge. Rather, we aim to avoid narrow-field knowledge and training in favor of broad-based knowledge of a full range of disciplines.
Without knowledge and informed acquaintance with many areas of study, analytical and critical thinking may descend to the level of uninformed opinion or biased attitude - occasionally supported by manipulation of words, numbers or images -- rather than balanced analysis of facts in context. By using critical thinking, students learn to examine and evaluate evidence and to distinguish between argument, opinion, and fact. They "learn to identify assumptions, evaluate evidence, to reason correctly, and to take responsibility for the conclusions that result" * [*Grinnell College Catalog, "Education in the Liberal Arts, at http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/catalog/education/ ].
The magazine Business Week reports that chief executives are quick, creative learners who embrace change. We recognize those qualities as the products of a broadly based liberal education. Yet here in Kuwait, we hear apprehensive predictions that American-model liberal education will produce unemployed liberal-arts graduates. Such fears are not totally alien to the United States public opinion. In response, W.R. Connor, president of Teagle Foundation and former president of the National Humanities Center, writes:
"The greatest problem confronting the liberal arts is not a glut of graduates possessing these qualities, but the difficulties of developing them more fully at every stage of education. In that effort we have perhaps more allies than we might think, including those outside academic who know how much they are needed in our society today. Just as war is too important to be left to the generals, so the liberal arts cannot be the exclusive prerogative of those of us in academia. Thoughtful, committed people from outside academia - we all know some of them -can help keep us focused on the importance of these skills of freedom in this time of radical, unpredictable change."
[* W.R. Connor, "Liberal Arts Education in the Twenty-First century." AALE Occasional Papers in Liberal Education #2 (Chapel Hill, NC: American Academy for Liberal Education, 2000, p.8).]
Our faculty work hard to create a caring environment where every aspect of students' development gets attention and support. To achieve positive student learning outcomes, our faculty incorporate a wide range of educational practices into classroom instruction and mentoring. Moreover, our liberal-arts-oriented educational mission calls for a positive connection between teaching and scholarly activity. This conference provides a forum for our international faculty to share their expertise and brings to the university their experience and wisdom and their passion for educating students "broadly and liberally." The publication of the first issue of the AUK Occasional Papers containing submissions to the 2005 AUK conference on Liberal Arts and Business is a significant first step on the way toward sharing our vision of liberal education with Kuwait and the Middle East. We welcome your participation in this conference and look forward to your presentations.
Following an extensive international search, President Marina Tolmacheva has announced the appointment of Nizar Hamzeh, Associate Professor of Political Science at the American University of Kuwait (AUK), to the post of Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, effective immediately. Hamzeh, a member of the AUK faculty since 2005, is an expert on Middle East politics, Islamic movements, international law, research methodology, and Western and Islamic political theory.
"I am delighted that Nizar Hamzeh has agreed to serve in this key role," said President Tolmacheva. "He is a recognized scholar with a distinguished research record and a dedicated teacher. As an Arab scholar from the Middle East trained in the United States, he has displayed a broad range of intellectual and administrative leadership skills - qualities that will be essential to the university as we continue to add strength to our academic offerings."
In addition to his teaching post, Hamzeh has served as Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at AUK and directed its Gulf Studies Center. He was head of the Social Sciences Division until August 2006 and has held Prior to joining the AUK faculty, Hamzeh was an associate professor of political science at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where he was a member of the faculty from 1988 to 2004. He was political science department chair at AUB from 1990 to 1999, and acting dean of student affairs from 1999 to 2000.
A 1979 graduate of the Lebanese University Faculty of Law, Hamzeh pursued graduate studies at the University of Southern California, receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in 1982 and 1986, respectively. Building on his dissertation, Conflict in Lebanon: A Survey of Opinions and Attitudes, Hamzeh has become an internationally recognized authority on the culture and politics of Lebanon, with special focus on the development of Hizbullah and Islamist movements across the Middle East. He is the author of In the Path of Hizbullah (Syracuse, 2004), a work that received the Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Book Award for 2005. He has co-authored two other volumes, and his articles appear regularly in scholarly journals.
"I am honored to be able to serve the American University of Kuwait in this new role," said Hamzeh, "and I look forward to working with President Tolmacheva, my faculty and administrative colleagues, and our Dartmouth partners, to enhance the academic programs that sustain AUK's distinctive intellectual environment." Hamzeh said he intends to focus his priorities as dean on enhancing faculty structures across the various divisions and programs, developing policies and procedures that support those programs, and ensuring that students continue to have access to a superb academic program based on the U.S. model.
At AUK, the Dean of the College Arts & Sciences is the chief academic officer of the university, responsible for the academic and administrative functions of the College and the Library. With oversight of curriculum development and implementation; faculty recruitment, development, and evaluation; policy development; and budgetary and outreach supervision, the Dean works closely with the President and serves as a member of her leadership cabinet. In his new post, Hamzeh will supervise AUK's four academic divisions: Business & Economics, Humanities & Arts, Sciences, and Social Sciences.
Dale F. Eickelman, Ralph and Richard Lazarus Professor of Anthropology and Human Relations at Dartmouth College, and Relationship Coordinator for the Dartmouth/AUK program, says: "Hamzeh brings an ideal mix of leadership, cultural sensitivity, scholarly achievement, and dedicated teaching experience to the position. His talents reflect the qualities that set AUK apart, enabling it to offer students the finest liberal arts education in Kuwait."
Established in 2003, AUK is the first private liberal arts university in Kuwait. The educational, cultural, and administrative structure, methods and standards of AUK are based on the American model of higher learning. Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire (USA) and AUK have signed a memorandum of understanding that allows the two institutions to initiate a series of advisory, consultative, and cooperative projects. The partnership reflects AUK's mission to provide the best in liberal arts education, drawing from the rich tradition and expertise of Dartmouth, and Dartmouth's recognition of AUK's commitment to quality.
Dean's List for Fall 2006
Fatmah Al-Qadfan
Fouz Al-Sabah
Budour Al-Qassar
Fahad Mohammad
Sara Zakhari
Maya Abou-Ismail
Lama Kablaoui
Abrar Al-Baqsami
Ala'a Ali-Reda
Bassma Al Kassem
Engy Abbas
Noufa Al-Sabah
Ghada Al-AbdulAaly
Noora Al-Ibrahim
Ala'a Al-Kadri
Abdulwahab Al-Khaldi
Maryam Al-Sabah
Muneera Al- Sirhan
Jawaher Ali-Redha
Naji Dimachkie
Mohammed Jafar
Hadi Sarieddine
Rama Sabano
Mansour Al-Sarraf
Bader Al-Sane
Yousif Al-Mudhaf
Hussein Nour-Elddine
Firas Kanawati
Tasnim Saleh
Fahad Al-Sharhan
Kheiriyeh Ahmadi
Mohammad Al-Awadhi
Taiba Al-Rumaih
Anwaar Al-Ibrahim
Amani Abdul-Rahman
Khaled Al-Hashem
Ahmed Adi
Bushra Zaher
Nadia Al-Jazzaf
Dania Dabliz
Manaf Al-Sawaha
Reem Al-Rashi
Nawar Al-Kazemi
Fahad Al-Dawey
Abdulrahman Al-Farra
Mai Hassan
Latifa Al-Falah
Sami Maan
Noura Al-Sabah
Mariam Al-Rayes
Fawaz Al-Maghribi
Suheil Taye'a
Farah Al-Mekhled
Fatma Al-Qadfan
Mazyad Al-Masoud
Nada Al-Hudaid
Nasser Quortom
Amro Sarhan
Tuleen Mahroussah
Mays Naser
Adla Al-Madahka
Nizar Mashal
Tareq Al-Rifaai
Shereen Shaheen
Safaa AbdulHamid
Faten Al-Kadiri
Dana Shamlawi
Hanan Al-Yousef
Sola El-Haddad
Noor Kortom
Noof Al-Muzaini
Sarah Al-Hilaly
Shoug Al-Khatrash
Rawan Al-Muzaini
Norah Al-Hilaly
Layal Ashkanani
Sally Saleh
Mohammed Fares
Fares Fares
Dana Al-Madani
Dalal al-Sabah
Abdalla AbdelRahman
Noaf Hussien
Housam Farra
Mustafa Husain
Nadia Karam
Valentina Noronha
Mirae Hanna
Mubarak Al-Wazzan
Abdulwahab Al-Sharaf
Dina El-Zohairy
Ahmad Al-Enezi
Violla Bader
Rawan Al-Nafisi
Sarah Al-Qabandi
Ahmad Al-Salamin
Sherif Mohammed
Rami Abdulsalam
Auob Sharafy
Hadeel Al-Tunaib
Daniya Alam
Maryam Al-Bahar
Noura Al-Aleiwi
Ali Abdulsalam
Amna Akbar
Youssif Al-Raqqas
Emad Salamah
Adhari Al-Qadri
Hebah Al-Duaij
Marahib Al-Sabah
Dalia Al-Mahmood
Razan Sharaf
Amal Tawakuli
Shahed Al-Wadani
Hussa Al-Refaie
Haya Al-Qassar
Mohammed Al-Muzaini
Rowena Al-Mutawa
Faek Al-Syriani
Abdullah Al-Shumais
Abdulaziz Al-Mossalem
Alissar Shaanin
Jackleen Shaanin
Mohammad Hellwa
Shaikha Al-Khaldi
Ranya Al-Mastaki
Abdulrahman Al-Failakawi
Shaha Al-Obaid
Wael Al-Ahmady
Heba Rashwan
Nada Al-Yahya
Suzan Ghattas
Sarah Al-Mejreb
Abdullah Al-Sheikh
Nuha Al-Fadli
Hind Al-Terkait
Hind Nassar
Husham Hindi
Farah Al-Shamali
Noor Al-Baghli
Balques Al-Rawdan
Dana Abdal
Fahed Al-Rafidi
Nouriah Al-Shatti
Kawther Sadeq
Following upon the numerous successful events organized by AUK, the Division of Business, Accounting and Economics hosts its key academic event the Second Liberal Arts Conference to be held at AUK over two days - May 15 and May 16, 2007. The theme of the conference is "Social and Cultural change in the Gulf". A review of the selected topics for presentation would indicate an exceptionally high standard of scholarly discourse making education a primary agent of change.
This conference is a must for anyone with an interest in education particularly liberal arts education, the evaluation of social and cultural change within the confines of a liberal arts education and the development of economies using lateral thinking associated with liberal arts education. The conference provides ample opportunities for researchers, decision makers, educators and students, to get together to network, form collaborations, share ideas, and debate the many issues raised by speakers and delegates. An active participation would go a long way to create an awareness, develop an esprit de corps which is so vitally important in rendering a meaningful service to the various stakeholders in education.
The Conference will be officially opened by the President of AUK, Dr Marina Tolmacheva on May 15, 2007 at 09h00. This will be followed by a keynote address by Dr Abigail Gray: "Retaining the Liberal Arts Student: Social and Academic Programming Needs at an "American" University in Kuwait".
The keynote address on the second day May 16, 2007 will be presented by Dr Rawda Awwad "Negotiating a Liberal Arts Praxis in Kuwait".
A short musical program will also be presented by our students under the guidance and direction of Dr Lisa Urkevich.
A cursory reading of the presentations shows a certain eloquence of diction and conviction and poetry at its best. You are all invited to become a part of this conference and to join us for dinner at 17h00 at the Diner and at the same time prepare for our Third Liberal Arts Conference "Togetherness at Work".
You may contact Ms Amal Hadeed by email (ahadeed@auk.edu.kw) or by telephone (802040 Extension 545).
19th Annual Raft Race - AUK claims 2nd place (Ladies), 3rd Place (Mixed-staff/faculty), 4th Place (Men)
The 19th Annual raft race took place on May 4th at Aqua Park. The competition saw over 20 teams competing in 4 different categories (Ladies welded, Mixed welded, Mens welded, & Wood & Rope). The rafts must be comprised of 10 oil drums and were powered by human power (paddles) only. AUK built its own raft this year (a joint effort of students & staff) as this is only the second year AUK competed.
AUK entered teams in each of the welded categories and brought back trophies for two of the three. Competing against corporate teams such as Al-Sayer (multiple teams), The Sultan Center, Doritos, and Four films AUK did very well.
Thank you to all of the students, faculty & staff who helped build the AUK raft or who either competed or supported our teams.
Over the past two weekends AUK students, and some faculty/staff, participated in two major events in Kuwait:
(1) University Championship Cup
(2) Raft Race
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL PARTICIPANTS
2nd Annual University Championship Cup --- AUK reclaims Title
The 2nd Annual University Championship Cup Finals Day took place on April 26th at the Australian College of Kuwait. The competition saw AUK, ACK, Arab Open University, GUST, & KU all participating with teams in competitions over an 8-week period.
AUK had five of eight teams competing in their respective Championship games on the final day (Ladies Basketball, Men's Table Tennis, Ladies Tennis, Men's Basketball, & Men's Volleyball). The results of which all contributed to the University Championship Cup Trophy to the university in Kuwait that has the strongest performance amongst all student athletic teams. AUK was defending the title they claimed in the inaugural year and managed to win the overall UCC trophy again by a 1 point margin.
University Championship Cup (Overall Standings)
1st Place = AUK 30 points
2nd Place = ACK 29 points
3rd Place = GUST 22 points
Individual Sport Results (AUK Teams Only)
Men's Basketball 1st Place
Ladies Basketball 2nd Place
Men's Volleyball 2nd Place
Ladies Volleyball 3rd Place
Men's soccer 4th Place
Ladies Soccer 3rd Place
Men's Table Tennis 2nd Place
Ladies Tennis 1st Place
Thank you to all of the students, faculty & staff who supported our student-athletes throughout the competition period.
AUK's Open Day Carnival took place on Thursday, May 3rd, with retail vendors, restaurants and entertainment facilities and kids' games sprawling all over the Salmiya campus. It was also a day for prospective students and their families to get acquainted with the admissions crew at the university and to see first-hand what the campus has to offer.
The event was organized collaboratively by student members and leaders of the Community Service Club, Business Club, Anime & Games Club and Student Government.
Admission to the event was free, and it was attended by 1500 people. All profit made on the day was donated to two charities: 70 percent was donated to Kuwait Handicapped Society, a local charity, with the remainder going to support victims of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan through the Oxfam International organization.
The event was a huge success and showed the organizational capabilities and leadership skills of the students of AUK who with the support of their institution, were able to plan and then fully implement a wonderful family event.
