The Emeryville Connection: A news magazine published by the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce
SCHOOL JOURNAL
Lebanese American University Chooses Emeryville for Bay Area Alumni Reunion
On the evening of January 11, Emeryville had the honor of hosting the Bay Area alumni and friends of Lebanese American University (LAU) at Trader Vic’s. LAU is an American University, chartered in the State of New York with campuses in Beirut and Byblos, Lebanon.
Longtime Emeryville City Councilmember Nora Davis, Fire Chief Steve Cutright and CEO & President of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce Bob Canter were present to welcome the LAU president, staff and alumni.
LAU president, Dr. Joseph Jabbra, accompanied by Bob Hollback, LAU Director of Development, and Alumni Programs Manager, Edward Shiner visited Emeryville to meet with Alumni and friends of the Bay Area. One of the purposes of the visit was to promote the University’s American-style higher education, which it considers to be part of any long-term strategy to a peaceful and prosperous Middle East.
In his speech to the attendees, Dr. Jabbra thanked Emeryville for its warm welcome and went on to the describe the progress made at LAU and the service it is delivering to the Middle East, the US, and the world with its over 7000 enrolled students.
“Our institutions, American institutions, do play the role of agents of change in important ways. They provide students with the opportunity to go through a process, an educational process, where reason and the heart come together,” Dr. Jabbra stated. “And, that’s very, very important. So that they learn, for example, how to solve conflict by peaceful means. They learn, for example, how to accept the other, although the other might have a different opinion than they do, without having recourse to violence.”
By the end of the reception, everyone was left with a very pleasant memory of a special evening that represented the international mix of our Bay Area residents and reminded us of the importance of the American higher education reach in the Middle East and the world.
Dr. Joseph Jabbra served on and chaired over one hundred academic North American committees and boards, ranging from academic senates to boards of trustees. He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of eleven books. He also has thirty-three articles and chapters published in books and scholarly journals, over twenty-six book reviews in both English and French, scores of scholarly papers and keynote addresses given at learned societies’ meetings and professional gatherings.
Dr. Jabbra belongs to fifteen professional societies. He is a noted scholar of Middle East issues, with particular emphasis on Lebanon.
For more information on LAU, please visit: www.lau.edu.lb.
Madeleine Biskintaoui is an Emeryville resident and alumna of the Lebanese American University
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