LAU President Michel E. Mawad’s Speech at the Launch of the Centennial Year
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Greetings and welcome to the Lebanese American University
Despite the unprecedented challenges the Middle East region and southern Lebanon are facing, the cost to human lives, and violations of the rights of our citizens, our will to survive remains strong. We are confident that humanity will prevail, and that the Lebanese people, who have shown resilience time and again, will rise from the ashes of crises in their quest for a better future. A future in which science, creativity, and university education are the pillars of human civilization.
This year, LAU is celebrating its first centennial, carrying a message of hope to Lebanon and the region.
A new candle has been lit, filled with hope for the second centennial that will begin this year 2024 dedicated to innovation, creativity, empowerment, and ever-giving to humanity and society in Lebanon and the Arab world.
LAU was born out of a human need for improvement in this important region of the world, through the highest standards of education for the good of future generations.
Beiruti families perceived the profound meaning of LAU’s noble mission and took pride in our university from the moment it was established by the missionaries of the American Evangelical Presbyterian Church, who baptized it the College on the Hill.
Built near the old lighthouse in Ras Beirut, this institution was then the only college for girls in the eastern Mediterranean, from Istanbul in the north to Cairo in the south. It later became known as the American Junior College for Women (AJCW), which devoted its mission to the education of Middle Eastern women, improving their conditions and those of their families and society. In 1948-49, when the AJCW program was expanded, the institution became known as the Beirut College for Women (BCW). After accepting men into some programs, the college changed its name to Beirut University College (BUC) in 1973. In 1994, the Board of Regents in New York approved BUC’s request to become the Lebanese American University (LAU).
Our university has withstood successive wars and crises thanks to its long history, deep roots, and its faith in men and women in Lebanon and the East. Not only did LAU stand firm and bear the brunt of the crises that befell the Lebanese people, but it also strove to consolidate its presence in word and deed. This has been proven by the Beirut campus over the years, which continued operating and thrived, establishing the multi-major School of Arts and Sciences, the Adnan Kassar School of Business and the School of Architecture and Design, placing LAU on the path toward enhanced academic excellence for the sake of the youth of Lebanon, our region, and future generations.
As soon as the war in Lebanon ended in 1991, LAU expanded to the new Byblos campus, which gradually became one of the most advanced university centers in medical sciences, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, architecture and design, artificial intelligence, and arts and sciences, among others.
The pursuit of advancement and innovation at LAU has never stopped. Our university was among the first to grant a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and to launch degree programs in Fashion Design, Petrochemical Engineering, and Mechatronics Engineering, among others. Furthermore, LAU launched the Online Degree Programs, that included several academic, technical, and professional programs, modernizing university education in Lebanon and the East thanks to state-of-the-art technologies.
In addition to its renowned schools, our university is home to 23 institutes and centers that offer seminars, workshops and training sessions for students and professionals alike. These include the Arab Institute for Women (AIW), the Center for Innovation and Learning, the Center for Lebanese Heritage, the Center for Migration Studies, the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Services, the LAU Louis Cardahi Foundation for heritage and tourism, and the Clinical Simulation Center, among many others.
Going beyond innovation in academia, we are invested in bolstering the scientific and industrial research sector through our Pharmaceutical Research Center that makes unprecedented contributions to improving the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical sector in Lebanon; the LAU Industrial Hub, dedicated to bridging the gap between academia and industry; the Genetic Research Laboratory, a state-of-the-art laboratory established on the Byblos Campus with the support of USAID; the Fouad Makhzoumi Innovation Center; and the Center for Innovative Learning. LAU has also signed dozens of MOUs with the public and private sectors in Lebanon, the Arab region, and the world, including major universities, companies, and international organizations, particularly the United Nations.
Our university is a source of pride for the Lebanese and Arabs: it is a Lebanese-American institution with a Lebanese-Arab-Middle Eastern horizon. It carries a message of creativity and distinction to future generations through its vibrant campuses in Beirut and Byblos and the LAU New York headquarters and academic center, which was inaugurated in 2013. We are proud of our tens of thousands of male and female graduates, who contribute to the evolution of civilization and advancement of societies worldwide.
LAU has carried a noble message since its creation, specifically that of the empowerment of Lebanese, Arab, and Middle Eastern women, and gender equality. In 1973, we established the Arab Institute for Women (AIW). A first of its kind in the Arab World, the AIW, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, advocates for the rights of Arab women, through theoretical and practical work, and cooperates with several international institutions to empower women in the region.
It is worth noting that seven presidents of our university were women, a testament to the influential and exemplary role that our institution has played and continues to play over the years.
LAU’s work is not limited to academic and theoretical work, but extends beyond it to commitment to civil action, at several levels, with various civil society organizations.
It endeavors to remain among the leading institutions of higher education in the world, as evidenced by the results achieved locally and globally, thanks to its creativity, research, and continuous efforts to uphold human rights and dignity, justice, freedom and equality.
We are one of the few universities in the world whose schools and programs are fully accredited by American accreditation institutions. We take pride in this, because it represents the pinnacle of creativity in combining Lebanese genius and American leadership in all its manifestations in the higher education sector. This diversity and fusion of two cultures would not have been possible without the contributions of the LAU family, starting with the Board of Trustees, the administration and faculty, the researchers, the medical team, and all those who have worked at this university over the years.
Our university is proud to contribute to advancing its community and to maintain the bond with its nurturing environment. Committed to its mission to empower and serve its community, LAU took the initiative in 2009 to launch the LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital, which has become a leading center for healthcare, medical education, and research. And in 2021, amid the economic crisis, we opened the LAU Medical Center-Saint John’s Hospital, one of the largest university medical centers in Mount Lebanon.
We are honored, at our university, to uphold commitment, assistance, and solidarity at the heart of our academic mission, and to be among the first who rose to many challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, by launching medical campaigns across Lebanon and standing by the Lebanese people to alleviate their suffering.
LAU has been working relentlessly to develop its programs and enhance cooperation with academic institutions worldwide. We have an inclusive cooperation program with USAID, which focuses on supporting the education of Arab, foreign and Lebanese students, exchanging expertise and experiences, and enabling our institution to strengthen its infrastructure by equipping its laboratories, research and study centers and libraries.
Our university is constantly striving to disseminate our culture and approach in our region and beyond. We are also working hard, in cooperation with several institutions, to bridge the East and the West and remain a crossroads for global cultures and civilizations, thanks to our good reputation and strong assets.
In 2023, LAU tied for the No. 1 position in Lebanon in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024, where it was placed, for the second year in a row, in the 501-600 bracket, and led nationally in Research Quality, with a score of 76.4 percent—a testament to deliberate efforts that LAU has invested in recent years. In 2023, LAU also ranked first in Lebanon in terms of scientific citations and research.
We are proud that our faculty members are among the top two percent scientists in the world, and we celebrate the great diversity and high caliber of our faculty members of Arab and international nationalities.
Distinguished Guests,
We are a student-centered university first and foremost. We would not have survived for 100 years had it not been for the long history of our institution and the strong confidence it has known, with an increase in the number of its students from only three girls in 1924 to 8,700 young men and women in the academic year 2023-2024, and 53,000 graduates over the decades.
Guided by the belief that education is not a privilege but a human right, we have spent tens of millions of dollars in student aid to ensure that no student should have to forego an education because of financial constraints.
To help students fund their education in the ongoing economic crisis, LAU took the initiative, with the support of philanthropists, LAU friends and alumni, as well as donor institutions from Lebanon, the Arab world and beyond to offer financial aid to 80 percent of our students, amounting to more than $200 million over two years, 2022 and 2023. In this regard, the trust between the university and its environment is best reflected in the fact that 40 percent of our students are the first university generation in their families.
As we strive to serve the community, the university’s socio-economic impact in Lebanon demonstrates the large amounts that LAU injects into the local economy. In addition, more than 2,000 families of physicians, faculty, and staff are employed in our academic and health institutions.
While we remain deeply rooted in Lebanon, we look forward in the next 100 years to further development in our university, keeping pace with the world, and providing a first-class education to male and female students, in partnership with the public and private sectors, through our vision to bridge the gap between academia and industry. We will continue to strengthen our health institutions, increase access to healthcare and improve efficiency and affordability. We are also working hard to expand, in the near future, to our immediate and distant surroundings, and we have laid out plans to build a university campus in a sister Arab country. We were able to overcome obstacles with determination, good will and perseverance, amid hard conditions and compounded crises in the Middle East, the latest of which is the tragedy of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the sacrifices of our people in southern Lebanon. As we believe that peace, culture, science and sustainable development go hand in hand, the university has a major role to play in searching for sustainable solutions and applying them.
These are only highlights of our mission. Our quest is not for fame or glory. The source of our pride lies in witnessing the renaissance of humankind in Lebanon and its immediate and distant surroundings. LAU offers a multi-dimensional Lebanese-American humanitarian model that combines tradition, modernity, authenticity, and progress, and represents one of the aspects of openness, respect for the other, pluralism, diversity, and upholding human values.
In conclusion, we will be commemorating our centennial throughout 2024 with a wide range of academic, research and social activities, including a documentary, a concert by the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, special commencement exercises, alumni celebrations and donor recognition events, two fundraising galas in Beirut and New York, and events at our health and medical centers. All these to reflect our core mission of innovating, empowering and ever-giving.