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The students of the American University of Kuwait (AUK) Refuse to be Ordinary. In keeping with its commitment to service, AUK launched an annual thematic service campaign "AUKause". Each year, students will choose a cause and devote the entire academic year to addressing the cause through service activities and engagement. The inaugural theme for the 2014-2015 academic year is Save the Children; a year-long campaign that promotes the welfare of children through various activities.

This December's Save the Children theme was Kid Car Safety under the slogan #BeKauseImLoved. Throughout the month, the American United School of Kuwait (AUS) will join efforts with AUK to teach kids the principles of road safety through a variety of events. The campaign kicked off with a trip to the Porsche Kids Driving School (PKDS), in which 190 children, from KG to Grade 2 students at AUS, got an opportunity to learn about road safety. Accompanied by AUK student volunteers and AUS teachers, the kids were allowed to drive down the Porsche school tracks while following the safety regulations they have been taught.

"The Porsche event was a great way to teach road safety. Students were able to experience the road and follow traffic laws, as their parents do each day. I also saw 3 students during recess today holding hands to cross the tricycle path on the playground. One of the girls said, "NO! Look both ways before crossing the street!," Said Ms. Russell; AUS Pre-K chaperon.

The students were thrilled with the experience, according to the chaperones. The AUS teachers asked the children who partook in the excursion for their opinions on the experience. Some of the comments were:

"I learned about the four golden rules about being safe in a car. 1. Click your seat belt.2. Keep your head and arms inside 3. Look, listen when you cross the road 4. No mobiles in the car please!" -Aisha; Second grade.

"When I got in the car, my mommy was talking on her phone and I told her to put it away.......then I said please" -Retaj; Pre-K.

"I liked learning about putting my seatbelt on." -Trenton; Pre-K

The Kid Car Safety campaign is not only targeting children, but also their parents who play a major role in protecting them. On Saturday, December 13th, AUK student volunteers are planning a Traffic Takeover from 10am-1pm, in which they will hold posters at the Gulf Road traffic lights, from the Scientific Center to the Kuwait Towers, to raise awareness on road safety. The campaign, which has been supported by the Ministry of Interior, will feature another activity to be held at the 360 Mall on December 20th, where parents are encouraged to sign pledges to secure their kids in car seats, use seatbelts and practice safe driving habits.

Members of the AUKause organization have planned a series of activities that launched in October with a winter clothes drive for children, and will conclude with a CPR safety class for children in May. Other activities throughout the year will include a collegiate and sibling cartoon marathon, a carnival, and an alternative Spring Break trip, where students will travel to another country and engage in numerous service activities aimed to benefit children.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 10th December 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

The Music and Drama Program at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) presented its annual Fall theatre production, Becky's New Car, at the Black Box Theatre, located on University campus. This production of the Steven Dietz play was directed by Assistant Professor of Theatre/Drama, Dr. Kathleen R. Downs, under the auspice of the Music and Drama Department.

Dietz's play revolves around Becky Foster, a middle-aged housewife who feels under-appreciated at work and at home. She struggles to find direction in her life while attempting to not hurt the people she loves in the process. Steven Dietz's play balances slapstick humor and genuine pathos as the characters confront their issues.

The production included performances by some veteran AUK actors, including Tori Danner, Omar Al-Farsi, Mohammed Al-Saeed, Abdulmajid El-Kassem, Samer Abou Zeid, Nada Amr Helmy, and Yousef Al Neyef as understudy.

The show also introduced newcomer Sundes Al-Blushi to the University's theatre community. Myriam Qutop returned as the Stage Manager for Becky's New Car, while veteran AUK actor Eamon Issa served as an apprentice to Dr. Downs.

The play relied on a crew comprised of students managing different areas of responsibilities, such as lighting, stage design, props, costumes, and sound. The crew transformed the stage and characters every scene, making it easier for the actors to get into character and perform.

The production crew included Taymour Khajah, who managed the lights, Renad Al-Roudham was responsible for costumes, Heya Al-Jouda handled the props, Seetah Yousef was the Asstistant Stage Manager, and Ken Downs was responsible for sound and set design. Publicity for the production was managed by Hani Nasser, Sundes Al Blushi, Sarah Al Khuswey and Rebab Shamaa, and the poster was designed by Abdulmajid El-Kassem.

Students from Dr. Downs' DRAM 360 course made up part of the theatrical ensemble. The rest of the company consisted of volunteers who met for six weeks during the semester, and immersed themselves in the characters they portrayed. All of the members helped each other with their various duties as they worked together to produce the show, which played five sold-out performances.

The Department of Music and Drama offers a wide range of opportunities for both beginning and advanced students within the context of a liberal arts education. The Music and Drama faculty of talented professionals work closely with students to prepare them for campus concerts and plays, and to academically challenge them in courses on performing arts. The department fosters artistic proficiency, cultural appreciation, a sense of community, and a lifelong commitment to the arts.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 9th December 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

Images from the Play

In October, Members from AUK's Learning Support Services attended The Wonderful World of Writing Centers, a conference organized by the International Writing Centers Association & National Conference on Peer tutoring in Writing (IWCA/ NCPTW) in Orlando, Florida, to explore new trends in the tutoring and writing center communities and develop ideas for research. The AUK team attended around 40 sessions and had the opportunity to meet their peers from around the world. Hanouf Al Juhail, Assistant Director of Learning Support Services at AUK, was one of the people to participate in the conference. She explained that after attending the conference she has become eager to implement some of the techniques she picked up from there in AUK's LSS units. Hala Botros, AUK's Writing Center's Academic Support Specialist, attended the conference with Hanouf. "It has been an eye-opening and rewarding experience for me. It increased my knowledge of the different roles writing centers have in shaping their communities and promoting literacy".

The Writing Center at the American University of Kuwait promotes an understanding of writing as a way of thinking, learning, and communicating. The Writing Center hosts one-on-one consultations where students, staff, and faculty explore ideas through the written word in both English and Arabic. Students visiting the Writing Center for help at any stage of their writing receive a sounding board for their ideas, a voice of conscience for their sentence-level transgressions, and a reader's response to their writing. The Writing Center's overarching goal is to inspire a love for reading and writing in the AUK community.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 8th December 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

The College of Arts and Sciences at the American University of Kuwait announced that the Department of Art and Graphic Design at AUK will host the Middle East Design Educators Association (MEDEA) 2014 Symposium in December 2014. This is the first MEDEA Symposium in Kuwait. MEDEA Board Members from universities around the MENA region will conduct workshops for students and participate in roundtable discussions with design educators in Kuwait. The AUK MEDEA Board member is Assistant Professor Marcella Kulchisky of the Art and Graphic Design Department.

"We are very pleased to host this event," said Dr. Rawda Awwad, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. "Our AUK Art and Graphic Design Department is looking forward to this event with MEDEA. There is great interest in potential collaborative opportunities as well as faculty and student exchange initiatives with other institutions in the region."

Founded in 2008, the Middle East Design Educators Association serves as an inspirational and informational platform for design educators in the Middle East. MEDEA provides an opportunity to share ideas, methods, challenges and opportunities, and to foster dialogue between the design industry and those who educate the next generation of designers. MEDEA is affiliated with the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Design Educators Community located in the United States.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 1st December 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

Correspondents from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) visited Kuwait in November to interview members of the general public about the current situation in the Middle East. While in Kuwait, Dr. George Irani, Associate Professor of International Relations at the American University of Kuwait (AUK), invited Sasa Petricic, Middle East Correspondent for CBC, for a chance to meet with students from one of his classes and ask their opinions about the ISIS conflict, as well as the coalition forces. This experience provided the students with an opportunity to express their opinions eloquently and apply critical thinking skills, which the International Relations Program aims to instill in the students through the traditional liberal arts and interdisciplinary curricula.

The interviews have been aired and posted on the CBC website. To watch AUK students express their opinions, click here.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 27th November 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

The Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) values civic engagement and service to the community and believes it is important to help raise awareness about how best to intervene and support the mental health of people affected by conflict, especially in this region. This month, the department organized a lecture entitled, Responding to the Needs of Children and Adolescents Affected by Conflict and Displacement. Dr. Inka Weissbecker and Dr. Mohamed Elshazly, representatives from the International Medical Corp. (IMC), were invited to speak to a crowd of more than 100 attendees from the public about the psychosocial issues faced by children being raised in such conditions and what steps are being taken to help them.

Dr. Weissbecker is the Global Mental Health and Psychosocial Advisor for IMC. She began the lecture by talking about how IMC has a presence in 31 countries around the world that are considered conflict zones or areas struck by natural disasters. She explained that her role as a psychologist is to design and implement community-based mental psychosocial programs, highlighting that due to the limited human resources available, it is important to work closely with the social workers of those communities to help develop these programs to best serve the community.

Dr. Elshazly is a Psychiatrist Trainer for IMC. He spoke about his role as a psychiatrist in working with refugees, and those displaced by conflict, to identify what factors to consider when designing and implementing holistic psychosocial programs in conflict zones.

"We were fortunate to be able to host two mental health providers from IMC, a well-established nonprofit organization that responds to humanitarian disasters, who spoke about their experiences developing programs to address the psychosocial needs of individuals who have been affected by war," explained Dr. Nicholas Scull, Assistant Dean of the College of Arts & Science at AUK. "The fact that nearly 100 people attended the event suggests that there is a lot of local interest in addressing the mental health consequences of conflict," he said.

Inka Weissbecker, Ph.D., MPH, has completed field assignments in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Japan. She has been a contributor to several global IASC and WHO guidelines and working groups. She has also served as an NGO representative of the International Union of Psychological Science to the United Nations (ECOSOC and DPI). Her academic credentials include a PhD in Clinical Psychology specializing in health and public sector psychology from the University of Louisville and University of South Florida as well as an MPH in Global Health and Population Studies from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Mohamed Elshazly, MBBCh, MSc Neuropsychiatry, ABPsych, has more than a decade of experience in clinical mental health services, training and MHPSS services in emergencies, and worked with many INGOs in Cairo implementing such services for African, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. His academic credentials include a Master degree in Neuropsychiatry from Ain Shams University and Arab Board of Psychiatry from Arab Council of Medical Specialization. Dr. Elshazly is currently the Regional Host for the Middle East and North Africa at the mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) global coordination network (www.mhpss.net).

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 26th November 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

The Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences and Engineering (RISE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) held a lecture entitled "State of the Art Assessment of Large Rotating Machines: How Embedded Systems Make the Energy Supply Safer". The lecture was conducted by Dr. Bernhard Fruth, Chief Executive Officer of Maser Quartzelec Services, a leading international electrical engineering group based in Malaysia.

Dr. Fruth discussed the main measures and best practices pertaining to the safety and lifetime of power generators. He took the audience through the main stages involved in assessing, diagnosing, and repairing power generators and their accessories. According to Dr. Fruth, power generators operate at very high voltages, which deplete the generators over time. That being the case, the generators require regular assessment and maintenance, as their failure could lead to fatal consequences. "Clients usually ask me 'how is the health of my machines?' We, as 'machine doctors', provide our diagnosis based on specific parameters. Accordingly, we submit reports including our precise evaluations and calculations, that include probabilities of machine failures and recommendations for precautionary measures," said Dr. Fruth.

Throughout his talk, the speaker showed pictures and displayed demos that supported the importance of regular machine evaluations and assessments, especially for machines that have exceeded 20 years of operation. He also provided an overview of the contemporary technology used to monitor and assess power generators. According to Dr. Fruth, power plant monitoring can be performed onsite and remotely. The onsite watchdog system relies on workers to constantly monitor the machines and report any unusual indicators that may require intervention from technical teams. The remote system operates through automated sensors that monitor and detect machine performance and issue assessment reports. The role of computers is extremely important in this process, as they do not only provide statistical data, but also visual and auditory signals that allow engineers to diagnose problems while offsite.

Following the talk, Dr. Fruth spoke about the importance of student research in supporting the engineering industry. He explained that students possess an exploratory spirit and an enthusiastic attitude, which allows them to generate fresh ideas. He also stressed the importance of students' hands-on knowledge and training, explaining that handling machines and equipment requires very skillful craftspeople. Adding to this, Dr. Detlef Hummes, AUK Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, stressed the importance of creating connections between academia and industry. "The talk was very impressive because it showed how modern embedded systems can even affect a conservative technology like power generators. The extensive discussion indicates that demand on such topics is very high. So, we should frequently offer talks which cover subjects of industrial applications," he said.

Dr. Amir Zeid, Director of RISE, was pleased with the audience engagement, expressing that RISE lectures are meant to cover a wide range of multidisciplinary topics in order to encourage research and development across different departments at AUK.

Khaled M Al-Abdulqader, an undergraduate student seeking a degree in Computer Engineering, found the lecture relevant to his field of interest. "As the speaker talked, I started generating ideas for my future capstone project. We need student innovators here in Kuwait who understand the requirements of the country to be able to provide customized solutions that can be proposed to the industry," he said.

Dr. Bernhard Fruth has a PhD in High Voltage Technologies (Dr.-Ing. 1986) from the University of Technology, Aachen, Germany. Between 1987 and 1992, he held the position of Manager of the High Voltage Systems Group at ABB Corporate Research, Baden, Switzerland. In 1988 Dr. Fruth developed the first commercial partial discharge pattern recorder. He has entrepreneurial activities in the field of rotating machine diagnostics/partial discharge testing and monitoring systems and was Managing Director and CTO of PD Tech Power Engineering AG, Switzerland. Dr. Fruth is now the Chief Executive Officer of Maser Quartzelec Services Sdn Bhd, based in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, since 2011. He has published more than 60 papers and contributions to international conferences and has been a member of the IEEE and IEC working groups. He is a member of ELECTROSUISSE and Swiss Engineering Society.

The AUK Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) serves as AUK's primary source for research and development activities, a bridge to industry, and an important venue for community outreach. RISE adapts an integrative model by forging connections between academic disciplines, local & international innovators, academia & industry, as well as technology & society

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 19th November 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014

Two Graphic Design students from the American University of Kuwait (AUK) participated in the International Symposium on Electronic Art Conference and Exhibition (ISEA2014) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Abdulaziz Al-Hoqal and Bashayer Al-Zayed submitted posters that were selected to be exhibited at the conference. Their posters were displayed at the American University of Dubai, Zayed University, as well as other participating universities in Dubai, throughout the duration of the conference.

Abdulaziz submitted an entry entitled "Engines of Difference" for the category "Technology, Science & Art". His piece consisted of a set of interactive posters that display virtual, 3D content once viewed through the lens of a smartphone camera. Meanwhile, Bashayer's entry came in the form of an infographic poster for the "Connecting Worlds/Linking Ideas" category. Her poster, Social Media Usage in the Middle East, displayed a ranking of the popularity of social media outlets amongst countries in the Middle East.

"Being such an important international conference and exhibition, and the fact that our students were the only ones from Kuwait who attended, and actually participated in, ISEA2014, is a testimony to the Art & Graphic Design Department of AUK," said Professor Rita Merheb, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at AUK. "This gave us very good exposure in the region, especially since our department is relatively new. This puts us on equal grounds with other, much older and well-established Art & Graphic Design departments of universities in the region," she explained.

Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 19th November 2014

Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2014