Features

Global Event Kicks off Centennial Celebration of Coeducation at AUB

by MainGate Staff

Fall 2021

A worldwide audience tuned in on March 6, 2021, for AUB4Women: Celebrating 100 years of coeducation at AUB. The online event, which was hosted by AUB trustee Katherine Maher, was, as she noted, a “celebration and recognition of the power and importance of women in education and the public sphere.” It was also a fundraiser for the AUB4Women Campaign, a year-long fundraising campaign to establish new funding and encourage additional support for existing, endowed, and current scholarship funds that benefit women students at AUB. In honor of the March 6 event, the Jesra Foundation made a gift to match every dollar contributed to the AUB Women Centennial Fund on March 6–8 up to $100,000.

During a wide-ranging discussion with Maher, Queen Noor spoke about her experience growing up in the United States as an Arab American. She spoke also about how her father, the late Najeeb Halaby, who served as chairman of the AUB Board of Trustees from 1983 to 1985, had inspired her
at a very early age to pursue a life in public service. Queen Noor spoke passionately and eloquently about the vital contribution that women make—and the even greater contribution they must make in the future—to address the enormous challenges that the region faces. “Where societies have invested, as AUB did 100 years ago, to confront and resolve these problems, especially by promoting women’s leadership, I have seen all ages flourish—men and women, boys and girls—as agents of change who work towards progress, prosperity, and peace,” she said.

In his remarks, President Fadlo Khuri noted that the current period was a very progressive era for AUB, with its first woman vice president, Mary Jaber Nachar, and three women academic deans: FAS Dean Nadia Maria El Cheikh, HSON Interim Dean Laila Farhood, and FHS Interim Dean Abla Sibai. Khuri also thanked Queen Noor for her “insightful, inspiring, and wide-ranging” remarks that had given everyone “tremendous things to think about.”

Following the main event with Queen Noor, accomplished AUB alumnae Mira Kaddoura (BGD ’00), Nadine Mezher (BBA ’01), and Micheline Nader (BS ’76, MS ’78) led three inspiring workshops. Kaddoura reflected on her career and what she has learned during her journey. “Your life’s purpose,” she said, “is to find that intersection between what the world needs and what you are uniquely qualified to deliver.” During her presentation, Mezher provided enormously useful investment advice especially targeted at women, who, she noted, tend to invest less than men, thereby missing out on money that they could have earned. Nader urged listeners to reclaim their purpose and elevate their leadership influence, stressing that we all can—and should—lead ourselves.

You can watch recordings of the main event with Queen Noor and all three workshops on AUB’s YouTube channel: alumni.aub.edu.lb/s/1716/bp20/interior_fw.aspx?sid=1716gid=2pgid=2338content_id=4067