From the Boardroom
LAU Board Members: In Profile
Leila Saleeby Dagher after nearly two decades of service, leila Saleeby Dagher (’60) recently retired as consultant to the vice president for Student affairs, but her involvement with lau continues. She is on the board of international advisors and is president of the alumni association. Dagher fell in love with her alma mater while working in two beirut College for Women projects: neighborhood House, a school for children who couldn’t afford to attend school, and the literacy program for women workers at Regie, the national tobacco company. She returned to lau as director of relations, setting up alumni chapters throughout the middle east and europe. in 1997, she dedicated herself to admissions. it is lau’s high standards and “student-centered atmosphere” that separate it from other universities, Dagher said. “the faculty’s doors are always open, while in … some other universities you have to have an appointment.” two of her children are alumni of lau. born to the family of one of lebanon’s first ophthalmologists, Dagher believes education should go hand in hand with culture. When students attend lau, she said, “they are not only educated but also cultured, and hopefully they will be taught to accept each other, to love each other and to live with others.” For graduating students, Dagher has a few words of advice: “if you love what you’re doing, you will do it to perfection.” Currently working toward a doctorate at the university of leicester, u.K., Dagher is writing her dissertation on the history of lau.
LAU’s Board of Trustees Meets in Florida page 30
Joseph Maroun “my dream was to fly,” said Joseph maroun, who has a master’s in aeronautical engineering and was a commercial pilot for Pan american airlines. the waning fortunes of Panam led maroun to look for a new career, one that came from his own heritage and, as it turned out, from his own hand. Pita bread in San Francisco, California, was so rare in the 1970s that it was “sacred, it was gold,” he said. So between flights, he worked at a lebanese bakery learning the craft. baking wasn’t his dream, but it was his destiny. in a leap of faith, he abandoned his dream of flying and opened a bakery. He recalls telling his wife, “Potentially, we might end up with an olive and piece of pita bread for dinner.” His luck held. now, with the help of his wife, Carmen, maroun is head of Caravan trading Company, which produces Hispanic bakery goods as well as the treasured pita. Having achieved success himself, he now gives back to the world and to his community. after the asian tsunami, he donated more than 100,000 ready-to-eat meals to its victims.“Giving is the best thing a human being can do,” he says. For his community, he has endowed a scholarship fund at lau and he serves as secretary of the lau board of Directors. through his service, he hopes to instill motivation in students. the most important thing in life, he said, is to not lose track of what you aspire to be.
the university’s board of trustees convened for its semi-annual meeting on march 19 and 20 in Palm beach, Florida. the board, which had previously met last September on the beirut and byblos campuses, gathers twice each year—once in lebanon and once elsewhere—to engage in strategic planning and discuss the status of important university initiatives.