BEIRUT: The Lebanese American University (LAU) graduated 1,456 students on Thursday and Saturday in separate ceremonies in Byblos and Beirut. Caretaker Education Minister Bahia Hariri and MP Nouhad Machnouk were among a number of politicians who attended the commencement ceremonies. Caretaker Minister of State Khaled Kabbani also attended on behalf of President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.
Addressing the 1,100 graduates in Beirut, LAU president Joseph Jabbra spoke of continuing successes at the rapidly growing university. LAU had “adopted the best practices in student recruitment,” Jabbra said, citing LAU’s dedication to education through its $10 million financial-aid fund, low tuition fees and increased financial stipends given for merit scholarships. Jabbra paid tribute to LAU staff members for ensuring that graduates were given “an education that is second to none” and sufficient guidance to become leading members of the community.
“From this podium we ask for close cooperation among government, the private sector and the university to make sure that you and future graduates have the opportunities you deserve in society, that you be given the chance to use your incredible and varied talents to make Lebanon a better place for you, for us and for future generations,” Jabbra said to the graduating class.
Provost Dr. Abdullah Sfeir then presented Riad Salameh, governor of Lebanon’s central bank with an honorary doctorate.
In his keynote address, Salameh reflected upon the nature and causes of the global financial crisis. Greed and irresponsible lending had brought the financial industry to its knees almost everywhere except in Lebanon, he said.
“A Lebanese financier who lives and works in the United States told me once that the first positive story the world and the US [in particular] had ever read about Lebanon was the fact that it has weathered the financial storm,” the central bank chief told the audience. Lebanon has gained international praise for Salameh’s prudent banking regulations, including his decision to prohibit Lebanese banks from investing in mortgage-backed securities.
Salameh used Lebanon’s financial fortunes as a rallying cry for the Lebanese to unite. “Let us imagine Lebanon as a stable country living in peace, with a government ensuring its citizens job opportunities and a better standard of living,” he said. Salemeh, who is the central bank’s longest-ever standing governor, also appealed to LAU graduates to harness their potential for the betterment of Lebanon. “Remember that you are the citizens of a country that was called the ‘Miracle County’ and celebrated by our great singer, Wadih al-Safi, as a piece of heaven.”
“Despite the prevailing severe political dissension … there is a way to reach an agreement on the need to resort to democratic institutions as an arbitrator, and to share in some fields, particularly the economic field, a common vision on Lebanon’s future,” the central bank chief said.
At the end of the Beirut ceremony, dean of Student Affairs Dr. Tarek Nawas presented to the family of late LAU student Wassim Hijazi his academic degree. Hijazi, who would have graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business, died last week in a car accident.
At LAU’s Byblos campus commencement ceremony, an honorary doctorate was presented to prominent US chemist Dr. Bassam Z. Shakhashiri in honor of his achievements.
Originally of Lebanese descent, Shakhashiri is professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was the first chair of the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea. The chemist has also presented the annual television program in the US, “One upon a Christmas Cheery in the Lab of Shakhashiri,” for the last four decades with the aim of making science appealing to children. – The Daily Star