Opening Remarks by Bruce Ferguson

Opening Remarks

Bruce Walker Ferguson President of American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS)

Bruce Walker Ferguson, President of AUIS, began by thanking Ms. van den Toorn, the IRIS staff, and all of the faculty and staff at AUIS for their work in preparing the Forum. He extended special thanks to Iraqi President H.E. Barham Salih, the founder of the University, and credited his vision for excellence in higher education at AUIS and across Iraq as a whole. He also thanked Dr. Jill Derby, the Director of AUIS’s Board of Trustees, as well as other Trustees and international guests for joining the Forum to help seek solutions to the complex problems facing the region. As AUIS is a not-for-profit university with a public mission, it is the ideal place to welcome such a Forum, he added. The diverse staff and student body of the University presents a positive vision for developing good students, citizens, and friends.