The Lebanese American University announced in a press release on Tuesday the visit of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich to the university’s Beirut campus on March 27, along with a delegation from the US Embassy in Beirut.
Goldrich met with Lebanese American University leaders and a group of US Government-sponsored scholars, and toured the university’s campus.
LAU President Michel E. Mawad welcomed the delegation on campus. He expressed his pride in working closely with the US Government, specifically with the US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), especially as an American Institution of higher education in the Middle East.
“We are particularly grateful to the American people and their generosity as they are supporting us in fostering scholastic activities, leadership and scholarship in this part of the world,” Mawad said.
For his part, Goldrich highlighted that “It was particularly helpful to understand and learn firsthand of the impact of the US scholarships, and how their experiences within the different programs have played out, especially as they are living through times of crises in Lebanon.”
Goldrich was accompanied in his visit by USAID Mission Director Julie Southfield, USAID Education Officer Tim Curtain, MEPI Coordinator David Lewis, USAID Project Management Specialist Ahmad Al-Amine, Public Diplomacy Emerging Voices Specialist Elie Ferneiny, and MEPI Program Grants Manager Maya Barhouche.
The statement mentioned that the university currently hosts 391 Lebanese and Arab nationals who are recipients of the life-changing Higher Education Scholarships (HES) and the Tomorrow’s Leaders (TL) scholarships granted by USAID and US-MEPI, respectively. Some of those students were present for a roundtable discussion, namely HES recipients Sara El Turk and Mohamad Ballouz, TL undergraduate scholar Meriem Msilini, TL graduate student Nabila Arab, and TL gender scholar Sara Hamadneh. The discussion was moderated by LAU Vice President for Student Development and Enrollment Management Elise Salem.
Last week, the Lebanese American University (LAU) announced that it converted its academic center in New York City into a branch campus. Located in midtown Manhattan, LAU New York will now confer master’s and bachelor’s degrees. Students will be able to register in five remote and in-person programs tailored to the needs of the global job market, mainly in International Business, Business Analytics, Global Business Administration, Computer Science and Applied Artificial Intelligence.
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