News
Jasmine Singh, Adjunct Instructor at AUK's Department of Art & Graphic Design, was the co-curator of the Masaha 13: Harmony in the City Exhibition; an exhibition aimed at addressing contemporary urban concerns on the global and personal scales. William Andersen, Associate Professor of Studio Arts / Graphic Design, as well as Clark Stoeckley, Assistant Professor of Studio Arts / Graphic Design, displayed their work at the exhibition.
Masaha 13: Harmony in the City was visited by students and faculty from AUK, where Andersen and Singh offered them guided tours of the artwork on display. President Tim Sullivan, AUK President, also visited the exhibition with his wife and attended discussions about the exhibition's future development.
The exhibition featured performative art, dye-sublimation prints on aluminum, painting, social media, video, mixed media digital drawing and installation that generated discussions around various environmental and socially-relevant urban issues.
Jassim Al Nashmi, an architect, photographer and installation artist, designed and photographed his 'Oil Memorial' series using a dye-sublimation printing technique, which prints photographs on aluminum. The installation confronts Kuwait's oil related issues, such as depletion, carbon emissions, climate change and economics. The installation and photographs beckon a shift towards alternative energy and resource generation.
Jasmine Singh collaborated with Roma Soni, Senior Lecturer at Box Hill College Kuwait, to create an installation titled 'Oil Drops'. The installation was crafted using prints on transparency wrapped around light bulbs suspended on wires of varying lengths. Singh also collaborated with Jassim Al Nashmi and architect Houssam I. Flayhan in the "Strawberry Project", a comparative analysis of two strawberries consumed in Kuwait. Singh also collaborated with Jassim AlNashmi and filmmaker Mohamad AlNashmi in the making of "Happiness"; a black and white video of venues and cultural moments reminiscing happiness was projected on an empty canvas.
William Andersen, along with Houssam I. Flayhan, Clark Stoeckley, and KU professor Jawahar Al-Badr, were collaborating artists in the "Happiness" project. Their live painting was the show stopping attraction on the opening night. The participatory nature of this artwork was to record individual and collective input, which is fundamental in giving rise to a happy, inclusive and just city.
Roma Soni produced a painting titled "Bleeding on Coral", which examined the vulnerability of the coral reefs. According to a comprehensive survey of Kuwait's territorial waters, about 90% of the corals are dead or dying due to oil spills, water pollution, getting hit and broken by anchors. The painting voiced the need for positive human intervention and corrective measures to restore the biomes' healthy condition.
Finally, world-renowned contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram exhibited his digital prints on the "Trash" series, which celebrates trash as the urban underbelly. Sundaram's work brings home the stark truth of the urban reality of proliferating trash, which is vast and entropic. Sundaram's work has been showcased at several global venues, including the Walsh Gallery, Chicago, 2008; Sepia International, New York, 2008; Center George Pompidou, Paris, 2011, Arken Museum of Art, Copenhagen, 2012.
'Harmony in the City' is a platform for initiating dialogue on urban issues at the global and personal scales. The issues range across food systems, human experience, transportation, climate change, energy and environmental depletion. While these issues have been explored by scholars from wide-ranging disciplines, there has yet to be a holistic exploration and representation of these wide-ranging, yet interconnected, ideas for the benefit of the interested individual at the grassroots.
Through art and research, Harmony in the City seeks to address this gap, with an attempt to present a holistic synthesis of emerging ideas in the search for a post oil metropolis. Harmony in the City curates these issues as experiential art works that raise awareness along with exploring visionary possibilities for the future. The modes of representation vary across performative art, dye-sublimation prints on aluminum, painting, social media, video and mixed media digital photo works.
Images from the event
To celebrate Black History Month for the third consecutive year, Dr. Inas Mahfouz, Assistant Professor of English, and the English Department of the American University of Kuwait, organized a week-long event around black female writers. The theme of the week was "Black Women's Writing, Activism, and Archival Research", and it featured lectures, poetry reading, and a screening of the 2011 movie "The Help".
Dr. Angelica DeAngelis, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, launched the week with a lecture in which she focused on the earliest play written by a black female writer and explored the dominant themes shared amongst black female writers.
Throughout the activities of the week, students became involved in discussions around feminism and race and were encouraged to relate these themes to current events.
A library corner displaying some of the books written by Black women was available throughout the week. The walls of the B building were also decorated with interesting facts and inspirational quotations by famous African American women.
The Department of Arabic & Foreign Languages at AUK welcomed Dr. Alyssa Gabbay of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to give a lecture about Abu Al-Qasim Ferdowsi’s poem, Shahnameh, and the shaping of Iranian identity.
The lecture focused on the important role of the Shahnameh in reviving Iranian culture and its continuing importance today. Created over 1000 years ago, this epic poem celebrates exploits of early Persian kings. It consists of more than 50,000 lines and was composed in the new Persian language, since the Arabic language had replaced the older Persian language as a literary language following the Islamic conquests of the Sasanian Empire. The epic served to revive Persian as a literary language and to preserve its pre-Islamic Iranian heritage. Dr. Gabbay vividly described some of the stories in the poem, showed illustrations of various characters from the Shahnameh and scenes in medieval Persian manuscripts, as well as discussed how the work continues to fire the imaginations of many Iranians. She also alluded to the equivocal reception by some people in contemporary Iran, since the poem glorifies Iran’s pre-Islamic past rather than extolling the Islamic era. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session with the attendees.
Dr. Gabbay studied English literature as an undergraduate, and she received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, specializing in classical Persian literature and medieval Islamic history. She is the author of Islamic Tolerance: Amir Khusraw and Pluralism (Routledge, 2010) and numerous journal articles and book chapters.
The American University of Kuwait (AUK) held its 13th annual Career Fair on April 11, 2017. Each year, employers from leading companies across Kuwait visit AUK to discuss future employment opportunities within their establishments to AUK students. This initiative is part of AUK's commitment to providing its students with opportunities to meet face-to-face with future employers and explore possible career options. During the fair, students spoke with different professionals and were offered advice on how to apply for jobs.
The Career Fair was organized by AUK's Counseling Center and took place in the AUK Auditorium, where 22 local and multinational companies in Kuwait met and spoke with AUK students about possible career paths they could pursue. The Career Fair was open to AUK students and graduates and offered a wide spectrum of full-time employment and internship opportunities. This year’s event was sponsored by AEA Consulting and Alghanim Industries (Platinum Sponsors); and KAMCO Investment Company K.S.C. and Ali Abdulwahab Al-Mutawa (Gold Sponsors).
AUK President, Dr. Earl (Tim) Sullivan, inaugurated the Fair with the traditional ribbon cutting ceremony and a tour of the fair, through which he discussed with the participating organizations their job offerings and required student qualifications.
Dr. Sullivan emphasized the importance of the Annual Career Fair as a venue for students to interact with potential employers and explore skills, personality traits, and academic qualifications that employers look for. According to Dr. Sullivan, such events provide students with new perspectives and allow them to think of the wider range of career options available throughout their career paths. “We need to get students ready - as we put it - for the first job, the last job and every job in between because things will change. So, we are not preparing only for an interview for the first job, but for the whole career.”
Dr. Sullivan also expressed that members of the Counseling Center are available around the year to advise AUK students. “Students can visit the center anytime and ask questions about opportunities available and how to prepare to apply for jobs. A lot of young people do not know how to prepare for a job application or interview. Our counselors there are available to give guidance and assistance to those students,” he explained.
General Images from the Event
The Library at the American University of Kuwait held its annual open house for members of the AUK community in February.
The event was aimed to showcase library resources, services and technologies to all members of the AUK community, and provides an opportunity for the library to highlight new collections and demonstrate interactive technologies employed in its facilities. The open house objective was to help enhance students’ experience and increase their engagement with the library.
The open house featured booths and displays organized by Sigma Tau Delta, Fikir, and the English Club. Each of the student clubs’ displays highlighted social themes, such as female empowerment and heroism in young adult novels, and how reading and literature can foster tolerance and help promote a better understanding of diversity to avoid ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and discrimination. The Intensive English Program (IEP) also participated by setting a reading corner inside the library.
The event program also included educational games, such as the “Spinning Wheel” and the “Fiction Challenge”, which required participants to go through the fiction collection and come back with answers. All participants had the chance to enter the raffle draw for a chance to win one of the five big prizes, including IPAD mini 4, Oxford Arabic Dictionary, FUJI Insta Camera, Samsung Galaxy tab and gift vouchers. Prizes were sponsored by library's partners and international publishers including Cengage Learning, Oxford University Press, EBSCO and Emerald group publishing.
During the open house, guests were treated to a live musical performance by the Kuwaiti band “Sons of Yusuf”, and were able to capture moments in a photo booth, or have caricatures of themselves made, or spent some creative time coloring in bookmarks.
Images from the event
Intensive English Professor Alison Koushki received a scholarship award from the US Embassy and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Kuwait. The announcement was made during TESOL Kuwait's first open meeting of 2017, where fellow members of the organization gather to discuss the advancement of teaching English to foreign students.
Professor Alison is one of five winners to receive the grant for her Special Interest Group (SIG) called Read English Actively for Language and Life skills (REALL), an innovative way to celebrate novels and stories.
– Photo Courtesy of Arab Times- March 9th, 2017
The group's objective is to empower students to enhance all 4 English language skills as well as real life project and teamwork skills. In REALL, students form teams -- whether on stage or backstage, script, costumes, make-up, or "Writer's Corner" -- and portray their readings through the arts. This SIG was developed from Professor Alison’s “Bring Reading to Life” work in AUK’s Intensive English Program over the past five years.
Professor Alison attended the 4-day TESOL International Convention in Seattle, Washington, USA from March 21 to 24.
Participating in sessions on the use of literature, music, and drama in language teaching, she was able to further establish REALL and conduct relevant research to develop the SIG. Networking with experts in her field has led to opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange. TESOL Press has invited Professor Alison to submit a proposal for a project based learning textbook on student engagement in novels through the arts.
The Maker Faire was held in Kuwait for the first time in February 2017 at the Kuwait International Fairgrounds in Mishref. Participants from around the Gulf attended to showcase innovative ideas in the areas of science, engineering, art, performance, and craft, to be considered for awards in various categories. The American University of Kuwait (AUK) participated with four capstone projects from the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department (ECE) at the event and earned awards for 2 of the projects.
The first winning project, The Harvesting Robot, was developed to navigate itself through gardens and small greenhouses and identify fruits as either ripe or rotten and place them in their designated boxes before delivering them to specified locations. The team responsible for developing this robot consisted of Fatima Al-langawy, Fatma Taqi, Heba Abdulraheem and Dr. Mohammed El-Abd, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering. Their invention won the second place award and KD 1500.
The second award to be won by AUK went to RICO; a mobile application that aims to help early-stage Alzheimer's patients recognize people they interact with regularly. This application uses face recognition technology on smart phones to identify individuals and display their relation to the patients by extracting the information from a database. RICO was developed by Anaf Al-Zuhair, Rawan Al-Asad, and Dr. Seyed Esmaeili, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. The team came in fourth place at the event and received KD 750.
Other projects presented by AUK at the event included an indoor fire-fighting drone called Auxilio, and the PCB Milling Machine. Also, Dr. Seyed Esmaeili presented two inventions independently; Two Glasses in One (reversible glasses that the wearer can turn inside-out), and a wheeled suitcase system that minimizes the lift-force required to manoeuvre traditional suitcases.
Maker Faire events were launched in 2006 to showcase invention, creativity, and resourcefulness. It was initially designed to showcase makers who are exploring new technologies, but later began to feature innovation in the areas of science, engineering, art, performance, and craft. This year, more than 500 entries were submitted for the technological track, from which only 40 were accepted, out of which 5 were declared winners based on evaluations conducted by a judging committee and public votes. Maker Faire Kuwait featured participants from Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and KSA.
2nd Place Winner - The Harvesting Robot Team
4th Place Winner - RICO Team
The Center for Continuing Education (CCE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) launched two new Teacher Training Certificate (TTC) programs which adopt interactive training tailored to suit the different levels of educational experience, and a Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) Preparation Course. Each of the courses offered will focus on training participants in effective and essential teaching skills. Offering such opportunities for development goes in line with CCE's commitment to train professionals in Kuwait.
The first course in the TTC program is Educational Training. Throughout this course, participants are instructed on the latest teaching trends, covering the essentials of theory, practice and techniques currently used in the field of education. It is designed for new or prospective teachers who have little to no formal training in teaching.
"The course [TTC: Educational Training] is a highly interactive one where participants have the chance to practice everything practically and at the same time develop public speaking skills & presentation skills," said the TTC Instructor.
The second course is TTC: Educational Leadership Training, which trains participants to develop curricula and provide mentoring, as well as train them in many other areas that help them perfect their leadership skills. Educational Leadership Training is created for experienced teachers and administrators who are looking to further their careers in the field of education.
The CCE also offers the Cambridge Teaching Knowledge Test (TKT) preparation course, which is designed to test candidates' knowledge of concepts relating to language and language use, and language education. The TKT is developed by Cambridge ESOL for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. This preparation course caters to new and practicing teachers who are preparing for initial training qualifications, as well as those on in-service training programs, and prepares them for the TKT.
Upon successful completion of any of the courses offered by the CCE, participants will receive professional certificates of completion.
"We are passionate about the learning cycle and catering for teachers' development is at the heart of the center for continuing education mission. Since 2016, we have moved teacher development beyond simple workshops and expanded it into a more robust system of continuing education courses. In order to advance teachers in their careers, teachers can seek out professional development opportunities at our center which are ongoing and aligned with standards and assessments; this will aid them in yielding a systematic growth and development in the teaching profession," explained Buthaina Al-Khubaizi, CCE Director.
For more information on the training courses offered by the CCE, visit the CCE website: http://www.auk.edu.kw/cce/cce_main.jsp.
About CCE
CCE was established in 2004 and offers an array of workshops, courses, and programs aimed to assist in the personal and professional development of individuals and groups within the public and private sectors. Course offerings are specifically tailored to meet the needs of their clients, whether they are independent groups or corporations.
Images from the Program
Students from the American University of Kuwait (AUK) visited the Kuwait Centre for Mental Health (KCMH) and toured the facilities as part of a field trip organized by Dr. Juliet Dinkha, Associate Professor of Psychology. The purpose of the trip was to give the students an opportunity to learn about mental disorders in Kuwait, as well as their treatments.
The students toured three units of the Centre; the Forensic Unit, the Children's Unit (Almanara), and the hospital.
The tour of the Forensic Unit was conducted by Dr. Abdulmohsen Alhumoud, the Forensic Psychiatrist at KCMH, while the tours of Almanara and the hospital were led by Mr. Mohammed Almosawi, Clinical Technician at KCMH. From the tour guides, the students learned about the types of cases each unit caters to and how the patients are treated depending on their conditions, as based on extensive assessments and evaluations.
While touring the hospital, the students visited the Sleep Therapy Centre where sleep disorders are diagnosed, and they learned about the relationship between sleep disorders and psychological disorders.
Dr. Mohammed included a lecture to the students as part of the hospital tour. In it, he provided an overview of KCMH and the cases typically admitted to the hospital and the protocol the hospital follows. He also touched on the subject of addiction and explained how people become addicted, the mentality behind addiction, and the recovery process and what it entails.
"The students were provided with information that is not in their textbook. They made connections to materials discussed in the class and real life exposure. This was the most thought provoking, challenging trip ever," explained Dr. Dinkha.
Images from the event
Alumni and students from the American University of Kuwait presented their senior capstone design projects during the 4th Annual Electrical & Computer Engineering Exhibition 2016 (ECEE'16). ECEE'16 was organized by the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department and teams from the AUK- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Student Branch (IEEESB), and featured designs that competed for two awards; the Best Project Award, and the Students Choice Award.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Mounib Khanafer, Chair of the Organizing Committee, who explained that such exhibitions provide students with platforms to test and showcase their skills through the projects they present. "These projects are valuable opportunities for students to test their skills, make a change in their societies and shape their professional personalities to pave way towards a successful career," he expressed.
The event also featured 3 keynote speeches. Professor Kassem Saleh, Acting Dean of the College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, spoke of stakeholder management for successful projects; Ali Arzouni, Project Manager, Siemens Electrical and Electronics Services Kuwait (KSCC), spoke of the principles of modern automation systems; and Dr. Detlef Hummes, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, AUK, spoke of the global future of technology.
Seven teams participated in the event. Each team addressed a specific area of technical interest and was supervised by a faculty member from the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department. The event served as a capstone design project incubator for junior and senior students.
Towards the end of the event, the judging panel that was comprised of Dr. Mounib Khanafer, Assistant Professor of Computer & Electrical Engineering; and Dr. Jibran Yousafzai, Assistant Professor of Computer & Electronic Engineering named the IVA: Inspection Vehicle ATARO project as the winner of the Best Project Award, while registered students in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department voted SysMART: A System of Smart Markets as the winner of the Student Choice Award.
Hala Al-Faisal and Ajab Fakhruddin were the team behind the Best Project Award winning project, IVA: Inspection Vehicle ATARO. This project allows the visual inspection of motors and generators for power plant application. The robot is extremely small so that it can go inside the airgap of a generator without removing the rotor. This allows inspection during short maintenance periods, which saves both the time and costs of removing the rotor. Three small endoscopic cameras are mounted atop the robot that can be controlled by a PlayStation 2 Dual Shock joystick. It comes with a convenient user interface that allows the inspector to view all three cameras simultaneously while controlling the movement of the robot. IVA is operated by a magnetic champ drive so that it is able to provide visual inspection of the stator surface around 360o. This team was supervised by Dr. Detlef Hummes.
Yazan Mohamad, Majd Makdessi and Omar Raad won the Students Choice Award with their project; SysMART: A System of Smart Markets. The aim of SysMART is to revolutionize the customer shopping experience by featuring smart solutions that can provide useful information and services for shoppers. Features include indoor navigation, smart cart, kids tracking, food freshness tracker, companion mutual tracking, cashier lane suggestion, alternative supermarket branch purchase suggestions for out-of-stock items. SysMART also offers unique off-supermarket options, such as items availability, parking availability, traffic status leading to and from the supermarkets. This team was supervised by Dr. Issam Damaj, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering.
