LAU MEPI TL Year End Book 2020

LAU MEPI-Tomorrow’s Leaders Program

YEARBOOK

2020

DIRECTOR FOREWARD

M E P I T L P R O G R A M DI RE C T OR TL graduates of 2020, what a journey!

Congrats Tomorrow’s Leaders, new TL Alumni, LAU’s pride!

The time you have been waiting for is here, you all completed your Tomorrow’s Leaders undergraduate program’s requirements successfully and are about to embark on a new phase of your life.

I cannot commend you enough on your special journey without remembering the challenging academic year we had to survive in 2019-2020. After the Lebanese uprising in October 2019, we all had to endure the impact of the global pandemic that is COVID-19. We all had to scramble through emergency travel, shift to online learning, and virtual communication, while making sure we maintain our efficiency, productivity, wellbeing and successful results. And you did it with flying colors!

I am sure we will all remember this year with some sorrow, but I call upon you to focus on the achievement. It was not easy, it was not fun, it was very stressful, but you know what? You made it despite of all the odds! And you will carry with you for life this ability to resiliently prevail.

The knowledge that no matter what life throws at you, you will be able to make it,

is powerful. This in itself is the essence of Leadership: the ability to hold your ground and move forward in the midst of a storm!

The best thing of it all, we all had each other during this challenging time. I admired your strength, your resilience, and your ability to cope and move on.

MEPI-TL provided each one of you with the unique opportunity to get out of your comfort zone, explore yourself and the world. It exposed you to so many diverse experiences and tested your skills at every turn. From internships, extra-curricular activities, leadership programs, skill building workshops, a fully sponsored semester in the US, and civic engagement opportunities you managed to diversify your academic experience while maintaining your excellent academic standing. I have seen you grow not only academically, but also personally.

I salute you all, you took on this challenge and you did it!

As you start a new chapter in your life, do not forget your MEPI-TL family, and always remember LAU. Congrats TLers!

Dina AbdulRahman

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MEET THE TEAM

L AU M EP I -T L FA M I LY

from MEPI TL family!

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CLASS OF 2019 - 2020

TOMORROW’S LEADERS

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

CL A S S O F 2020

Naser Altooblani Bahrain B.A. in Psychology High Distinction

Ali Ayache Lebanon B.S in Computer Science Distinction

Salaam Halila Tunisia B.A. in Communication Distinction

Sara Harba Syria B.S. in Business Studies - Accounting High Distinction

Siraj Belgasium Libya B.A. in Political Science / International Affairs

Amer Haj Ahmad Syria B.S. in Computer Science High Distinction

Tahani Husain Bahrain B.A. in Political Science / International Affairs Distinction

Yasmeen Khayal Libya B.S. in Business Studies - Management Honors

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CLASS OF 2019 - 2020

Shahd Magouri Libya B.A. in Political Science / International Affairs Distinction

Leila Mnekbi Tunisia B.S. in Computer Science

Fatema Mohamed Bahrain B.S. in Nutrition Distinction

Kareem Nofal Syria B.A. in Television and Film

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THE “TOP” INTERVIEW TOP-IN STUDY ABROAD:

TOP-ON CAMPUS: TOP SPOT:

Gulbenkian Theater - Leila Mnekbi Fountain - Naser Altooblani

TOP FACILTIES:

New library - Amer Haj Ahmad

TOP HISTORICAL SITE VISITED:

Lincolin Memorial, USA - Sara Harba

TOP MUSEUM:

Moma, USA - Salaam Halila

Oklahoma Memorial, USA - Yasmeen Khayal Getty Museum, Los Angeles - Shahd Magouri

Gym - Tahani Husain International Education Week - Fatema Mohamed TOP IN-CAMPUS EVENT/EXHIBITION: Festival NEXT - Kareem Nofal TOP TEACHER:

Dr. Amr Selim - Kareem Nofal Dr. Ramzi Haraty - Ali Ayache Dr. Marwan Rowayheb - Shahd Mayouri

TOP CAMPUS CLUB: Ted X - Salaam Halila Psychology Club - Siraj Belgasium

TOP-IN LEADERSHIP: TOP VOLUNTEERING Beach clean up - Kareem Nofal ACTIVITY: Emotional Intelligence - Sara Harba TOP WORKSHOP: Maharat Min Google - Yasmeen Khayal TOP COMMITTEE ACTIVITY YOU HAVE Gender Committee - Tahani Husain ATTENDED: Communication Committee - Ali Ayache TOP SESSION/ CONFERENCE ATTENDED:

TOP-IN LEBANON: Jeita Grotto - Salaam Halila

TOP HISTORICAL SITE VISITED: TOP CULTURAL EVENT:

Badaro street fair - Kareem Nofal

TOP NATURAL RESERVE:

Cedars of God, Bcharre - Sara Harba

Beiteddine Castle - Siraj Belgasium

TOP LEBANESE DISH: Lahem Beagin - Shahd Magouri International Student Week (Romania)- Sara Harba

TOP LEBANESE SWEETS:

Knefeh - Leila Mnekbi 11

TIMELINE

YO U R J OU R N E Y WELCOME CEREMONY

RETREAT

GET TOGETHER PARTY

WORKSHOP - CULTURAL SHOCK

STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS

TL CAPSTONE PROJECT PRESENTATION DAY

CHRISTMAS DINNER

US SEMESTER

COLLEGIATE PROGRAMMING CONTEST

CULTURAL DAY

WORKSHOP - COMMUNICATION SKILLS

ORIENTATION

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TIMELINE

WORKSHOP - GOAL SETTING STRATEGIES

LAU MIDDLE SCHOOL MODEL UNITED NATIONS FINAL CONFERENCE

SNOW TRIP

TL MAGAZINE

CAP & GOWN - PHOTO SESSION

CV WRITING WORKSHOP

TOWNHALL MEETING

US MEPI DAY OF SERVICE

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK

OPEN MIC - POETRY NIGHT

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

VIP SERIES WITH THE TL GENDER COMMITTEE & AiW

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DIRECTOR FOREWARD

M E P I T L G AC A D E M I C C O O R D I N A T O R

The academic year 2019/2020 will be historically remembered as a critical juncture in Lebanon’s history. The onset of Lebanon’s 2019 protests and the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic have had profound repercussions on our distinguished MEPI TLG learning community’s research plans and study habits. We have had to transform the physical classroom into a digital learning community. We have had to reconfigure our teaching and learning habits. We have had to cling on to your hopes and persist in our research plans although continuous uncertainty has reconfigured and at times derailed our research collaborations, questions, hypotheses, and methods.

Notwithstanding such challenges, this academic year has seen our MEPI TLG community equip itself with versatility, creativity, and resilience. MEPI TLG students have embarked on research projects that are substantially inspired by the very “wicked problems” that our societies face today. Linking theory with practice, they have completed internships in organizations at the forefront of community engagement, policy-orientated research, and development. In the context of social distancing and confinement, they have successful rethought their field research priorities and readapted their research methodologies. Most importantly, they have been at the heart of global engagement.

They have participated in international conferences, webinars, and research projects with a view to contributing to the most pressing debates that the Arab region is confronted with today: reconfiguring the post-2011 social contracts, implementing the SDGs, transforming migration and mobility

into development tools, understanding dilemmas thwarting the deepening of democratic processes; probing into the political economy of displacement etc.

These issues and many others have marked MEPI TLG students’ research trajectories and aspirations. As some of them have related to me, this academic year will be remembered as a turning point that has inspired their future careers, deepened their social and global engagement, and mostly saw their triumph over adversity.

I am incredibly grateful that I have had the opportunity to be the academic coordinator of this multi-faceted program that transcends disciplinary boundaries, and that creates a genuine multidisciplinary dialogue spanning area studies, economics, political science, migration and gender studies. I have been extremely fortunate to accompany MEPI TLG students throughout their academic trajectory and to witness in numerous ways how they enacted and performed an everyday politics of resilience in their research, lifestyle, and social engagement. Their fantastic capstone projects and graduate dissertations have certainly inspired LAU faculty’s own research and inspired new pedagogical methods across LAU’s departments.

We would like to wish them the best of luck as they transition into a new phase, and we would like to encourage them to sustain and deepen their ties with the LAU community.

The MEPI TLG journey is certainly one that opens new collaborative spaces, expands horizons, and most importantly creates solid, lasting and durable friendships.

Tamirace Fakhoury 17

CLASS OF 2019 - 2020

TOMORROW’S LEADERS GRADUATE PROGRAM

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CL A S S O F 2020

Maguy Abdel Ahad Lebanon M.A. in Applied Economics

Ghina Abdul Baki Lebanon M.A. in Applied Economics

Hrag Dedeyan Lebanon M.A. in International Affairs

Anas Diab Palestinian Refugee in Lebanon M.A. in Applied Economics

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CLASS OF 2019 - 2020

Israa Hashem Lebanon M.A. in Applied Economics

Fatema Nooruddin Bahrain M.A. in International Affairs

Muna Saeed Yemen M.A. in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies

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DR. JOSEPH G. JABBRA - LAU PRESIDENT

LAUMEPITL

@LAUMEPI_TL

LAU_MEPI_TL

“Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the United States Department of State.”

MEPI Tomorrowís Leaders Program LAU