The Family Just Keeps Growing: Welcome Class of 2011! A ... - AUK

2007 Graduation 

Ceremony 

Page 3 

Celebrating AUK’s 

Artists and Academics 

Page 8 

Special Section: 

AUK-ers Abroad 

Page 6 

Volume 4, Issue 1 The Official Student Newspaper of the American University of Kuwait 

October, 2007 

2007 - 08 Intensive English Class. Photo by Fatma Khamis. © 2007 AUK PR & Marketing 

By Dr. Carol Ross-Black 

The inaugural class of 2008 is embarking upon 

their senior year and readying themselves to 

take on the world. Class of 2011, you have big 

shoes to fill! The Class of 2008 has helped AUK 

set a standard of excellence second to none. From 

exploring other countries from an anthropological 

perspective and showing off their business acum 

men, to being dramatic, artistically creative and 

musical, and giving Hollywood something to think 

about…from philanthropic ventures to challengim 

ing and questioning bureaucracy while changing 

the face of Kuwait student-politics, not to mention 

show casing the athletic power of AUK, the Class 

of 2008 is fabulous! I hate to see them graduate 

but we must make room for you new kids on the 

block. Welcome Class of 2011. Your challenge is 

to carry the torch of excellence handed down by 

the Class of 2008. 

Carrying such a torch is a huge responsibilim 

ity. The torch signifies your independence as a 

learner. Carrying the torch indicates your acceptim 

AUK’s Undergraduate Class of 2011. Photo by Fatma Khamis. © 2007 AUK PR & Marketing 

The Family Just Keeps Growing: Welcome Class of 2011! 

ing responsibility for making it to class on time 

and engaging in the learning material. You are resm 

sponsible for seeking assistance from the professm 

sor, doing your part in group activities, and seekim 

ing academic support when you cannot grasp the 

material. Your torch should be lit day and night; it 

helps you manage time and ensure academics are 

your priority. It will brighten your way, guiding 

you to extra and co-curricular activities. The expm 

periences and involvement in leadership, student 

organizations, or athletics will bring out the best in 

you. Your torch will shine even brighter. 

College is a life changing experience. It will 

be filled with good times, new and lasting friendsm 

ships, and challenges that will force you to reflect 

on your goals and values. Some days your torch 

may seem as if it is burning out. We are here. 

You may feel like the torch is just too heavy. We 

are here. We are here…ready, willing, and able 

to ensure your torch keeps burning. Best of luck 

Alumni Class of 2008. Welcome to the family 

Class of 2011. 

Dear AUK Students: 

Welcome to the new 

Academic Year at the 

American University of Kuwm 

wait. This year is very importm 

tant in the life of AUK: we will 

complete the first four-year 

cycle of Bachelor’s degree progm 

grams and graduate our first 

class, Class of 2008. You are 

all witnesses to our extraordinm 

nary growth and success. We 

are starting AY 2007-08 with 

almost 500 new students for a 

total of approximately 1,500. 

This is includes high school 

graduates and transfer students, 

undergraduates and those in the 

Intensive English Program, and 

international and visiting studm 

dents – all are equally welcome 

on this friendly, green campus. 

We start this academic year 

with an expanded list of Bachem 

elor’s degree programs. The 

program in Graphic Design has 

been developed from a Minor 

to a Major field; two programs 

with new names, “International 

Studies” and “Social and Behm 

havioral Sciences” (formerly 

ANSO), carry higher major 

certification requirements than 

before (for details see pp. 105 

and 109 of the 2007-08 Catalm 

log). Students entering our Intm 

tensive English program will 

A Letter from the President 

be pleased to know that AUK 

has been approved for internatm 

tional accreditation candidacy 

by the US-based Commission 

on English Language Program 

Accreditation (CEA). We are 

proud that AUK has the strongm 

gest English-language preparatm 

tory program in Kuwait. 

AUK is always looking for 

internship and other academic 

opportunities for our students. 

This summer, AUK signed a 

Memorandum of Understandim 

ing with the Lothan Youth 

Achievement Center (LoYAC) 

on awarding internship credit 

for LoYAC summer work and 

competitive internships in selm 

lected appropriate fields to 

participating AUK students. 

Over the summer, our students 

had a number of opportunities 

to attend conferences and partm 

ticipate in summer programs. 

AUK student Mohammed Dagm 

gher was selected to take part 

in the Dubai Summer Surprise 

Apprenticeship Program. Two 

students won internship with 

British Petroleum (BP), Nura 

Al-Hilali in Germany and Dina 

El-Zohairy in Kuwait. Rama 

Sabano and Hana Ibrahim were 

the 2007 AUK interns at Dartm 

mouth (see elsewhere in this 

issue on this semester’s Dartm 

mouth interns at AUK). 

Two AUK students, Noura 

Al-Ali and Fahad Al-Tukhaim, 

were selected from an applicant 

pool of 80 candidates to the 

Summer Academy on Conflict 

Resolution and Peacebuilding 

at Lebanese-American Univm 

versity. The August conference 

taught a group of thirty students 

the skills necessary for conflict 

resolution and peace buildim 

ing and included proposals for 

community projects presented 

to a local NGO representative. 

Other student participants were 

from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, 

Jordan, and Palestine. 

Several AUK students were 

selected for a US-sponsored 

MEPI program (Middle East 

Partnership Initiative). This 

seven-week study and travel 

program was conducted at sevem 

eral American institutions and 

focused on leadership, collectm 

tive problem-solving skills, 

and the history of American 

democracy. AUK students 

were the only Kuwaiti students 

selected for the program. Some 

of the students who completed 

the MEPI program (Abdullah 

Al-Shanfa, Ali Al-Tukhaim, 

Fahad Mohammad, Fatmah Al- 

Qadfan, Haya Al-Qassar, and 

Hussa Al-Sabah) will have a 

chance to participate in followup 

regional MEPI activities at 

a later date. Congratulations to 

all the winners! 

Several other 2007-08 compm 

petitions have been already annm 

nounced for student-centered 

programs involving research, 

subject knowledge, critical 

thinking, and communication 

and leadership skills. AUK has 

also received several invitations 

to student conferences to be 

held during AY 2007-08. Recm 

cently, Fahad Al-Tukhaim was 

nominated for the highly prestm 

tigious three-month MEPI progm 

gram “Leadership for Democrm 

racy,” to be conducted in Spring 

2008 at Syracuse University, 

in New York and/or Washingtm 

ton, DC. Amal Tawakuli and 

Fahad Mohammed have been 

nominated for the “Festival of 

Thinkers” held by the Higher 

Colleges of Technology in Abu 

Dhabi. You, too, can help AUK 

find new opportunities for you 

and your fellow students -- tell 

us about new sponsors and new 

competitions, involve your facum 

ulty, advisors, and counselors. 

We are here to help you succm 

ceed. 

Marina Tolmacheva 

President 

Students do MEPI in U.S. 

By Fatmah H. Al-Qadfan 

Six students from the Americm 

can University of Kuwait 

participated in a leadership trainim 

ing program this summer, in the 

United States. The program was 

sponsored and funded by the US 

Department of State’s Middle East 

Partnership Initiative (MEPI); 

over one hundred students from 

the Middle East and North Africa 

took part this year. MEPI aims to 

promote a better understanding of 

the United States and develop partm 

ticipants’ collective problem-solvim 

ing skills. 

Study of the U.S. Institutes for 

Student Leaders aimed to provide 

the participants with a unique oppm 

portunity to learn about and discm 

cuss values, issues, and institutm 

tions that have played important 

roles throughout the history of the 

United States. The program was 

divided into different areas: Form 

mative Events, Ideas, and Leadem 

ers; Societal Developments; the 

Contemporary Cultural Scene; the 

American Economy; and Political 

Institutions and Processes. Within 

each topical area, the role of leadem 

ership was examined from multm 

tiple perspectives. Participants in 

these programs lived on U.S. collm 

lege campuses, attended lectures, 

roundtable discussions, visited histm 

toric sites, engaged in local comm 

munity service activities and, most 

importantly, had the opportunity to 

discover the United States and its 

diverse cultures for themselves. 

The hosting Institutes for this 

summer’s MEPI program were: 

Benedictine University, Dickinson 

College, Georgetown University, 

Montana State University and the 

University of Delaware. Each Insm 

stitute hosted around 20 students. 

On the 20 th June 2007, the six 

students and their parents were invm 

vited to a ‘Bon Voyage’ reception 

by the US Embassy. They were 

welcomed by the President of the 

American University of Kuwait, 

Dr. Marina Tolmacheva, who then 

gave the floor to Ms. Emily Sharpe, 

Gulf Center coordinator and the 

main liaison between the students, 

the American Embassy and the 

program directors in the US. She 

has worked hand in hand with the 

students ensuring that all the necem 

essary paperwork was ready on 

time. Sharpe explained to the partm 

ticipants AUK’s expectations of 

them, explaining that the students 

will be receiving credit from AUK 

for taking part in MEPI’s Leadersm 

ship Institutes. Sharpe briefed the 

students about the assignments 

they were expected to complete 

and the presentations they were to 

give upon return to AUK. 

Ms. Tunisia Owens, the Cultural 

Continued on page

The Voice of AUK 

Volume 4, Issue 1 

2 

ACADEMIA 

Moving On: AUK Alumna Working as Cultural 

Affairs Assistant at the U.S. Embasssy 

By Tasnim Saleh 

Tasnim Saleh graduated from 

AUK with a degree in Compm 

puter Science and a minor in Infm 

formation Systems with Summa 

Cum Laude honors, making her 

the Class of 2007 valedictorian. 

Tasnim toured the universities 

of Kuwait, attending Kuwait 

University and GUST before 

she landed at AUK. She also 

received two years of college 

education at Pennsylvania State 

University. Tasnim worked for 

AUK since August 2004 holding 

two part time jobs: as a student 

assistant in the Registrar’s Offm 

fice and as a tutor at the Student 

Success Center. In 2006, Tasnim 

was hired as a full time Registm 

trar Coordinator, and in 2007, 

she was hired as a Writing Consm 

sultant/Administrative Assistant 

at the Writing Center at AUK. 

Tasnim was the first recipient of 

the President’s Award in 2005. 

But enough about what Tasnm 

nim was, and let’s talk about 

where she is today. In May 2007, 

Tasnim became the Cultural Affm 

fairs Assistant at the Embassy 

of the United States of America 

in Kuwait, all the while keeping 

amicable relationships with her 

classmates and ex-coworkers at 

AUK. Tasnim is now responsm 

sible for English language, cultm 

tural, arts and music, youth and 

sports programs and is mainly 

concerned with students studyim 

ing or planning to study in the 

U.S., as well as introducing the 

Kuwaiti public to American cultm 

ture. 

One might ask what this cultm 

tural business has to do with a 

degree in Computer Science. 

Tasnim’s response to that is that 

it has nothing and everything to 

do with her degree. A degree in 

Computer Science means that 

the graduate is trained in analm 

lytical thinking, and is comfortam 

able using all types of modern 

technology. In Tasnim’s book, 

this also means that she went 

through the toughest program 

at AUK; one that involves a real 

good scratching of the head, so 

everything looks easier once 

you’ve been through the hardest 

of them all. The beauty of recm 

ceiving a degree from an Americm 

can institute like AUK is that a 

person is exposed to 45 credits 

of well-defined general educatm 

tion courses, creating a person 

The news by students, for students. 

Editorial Board 

Dina El-Zohairy 

Fatmah Hussain Al-Qadfan 

Opinion and Editorial Policy 

The Voice of AUK welcomes 

contributions from all regim 

istered students, faculty and 

staff members of the American 

University of Kuwait. Subm 

missions must be emailed to 

editor@voiceofauk.com. 

All submissions must be 

approved by the Editorial 

Board, in keeping with the 

Editorial Policy. The Voice of 

that is not only knowledgeable 

in their field but in all aspects 

of academia. One-third of our 

study at AUK is devoted to beim 

ing well-rounded in our thinkim 

ing, not just in our field. 

After her last final exam at 

AUK, Tasnim went through 

what can only be described as 

a withdrawal period. She finm 

nally understood what a zombm 

bie must feel like. She woke up 

everyday to find that she had no 

books to put in her backpack; 

no sticky notes on the screen 

of her computer to remind her 

of exam dates and home work 

deadlines. She no longer had to 

study during the weekend, or 

pass on a party or dinner with 

her friends because she had a 

quiz on the next day. She did 

not have to spend her afternoons 

working on a group project with 

her classmates. In fact, she no 

longer had classmates. She no 

longer had a class to attend! It 

was a shocker to Tasnim’s systm 

tem. For a while, she really did 

not know what to do with all this 

new-found amount of free time. 

She discovered that, unlike her 

days as a student, she can leave 

her work at work, and go home 

with a blank mind. She discovem 

ered that she no longer needed 

to go to the massage parlor evem 

ery week to release the tension 

in her shoulders, because all 

the tension from bending over a 

book and counting hours seized 

to exist. 

A very long time ago, as a 

freshman in Pennsylvania State 

University, Tasnim learned not 

to set dreamy long term goals 

because life often messes those 

up, so she started setting short 

term goals, one semester at a 

time. When Tasnim found hersm 

self without a semester to plan 

for, she panicked!! She started 

thinking about long term goals 

again, with no limited time 

frame called a semester to resm 

strain her thoughts. Baby steps 

no longer worked. 

For a couple of months aftm 

ter graduation, Tasnim toyed 

around with the easy way out. 

She thought to herself that she 

could just stay in “Student 

Mode” and pursue her mastm 

ter’s degree right away. In fact, 

she could just stay a student 

forever! She started spending 

those extra hours after work 

AUK offers no guarantee that 

any submission will be publm 

lished. 

To be considered for publicm 

cation in the Voice, submissm 

sions for a given issue must be 

received no later than the 10th 

of the month in which the issm 

sue is to appear. 

The views expressed in oped 

columns do not necessarily 

reflect those of the Voice of 

AUK nor those of the Americm 

can University of Kuwait. 

All submissions become 

property of the Voice of AUK. 

The Editorial Board reserves 

the right to edit all material, 

including for grammar, spellim 

ing, style and clarity. Writers 

have the right to withdraw 

submissions at any time prior 

to publication. 

AUK Graduate Tasnim Saleh. 

researching graduate schools 

all over the world. Eventually 

she realized that she wanted to 

really truly start her career and 

not take a hasty step into gradum 

uate school, so she dropped 

that idea for now and started 

looking at career opportunities. 

AUK had given her career the 

jump-start that it needed. She 

did not only have a degree, but 

circa three years of work experm 

rience. She was ready to enter 

phase 2: the real world!! 

After graduating and moving 

to a new job, Tasnim started 

seeing many things from a 

different perspective. At one 

point in time, she thought that 

she would never be able to 

leave AUK; that her life will 

forever revolve around the 

university, as she is sure many 

students feel. After years of 

just being a student, it’s hard 

to adopt a new identity. Transitm 

tion is hard, but like they say, 

hindsight is 20/20. You never 

think that you will be able to 

move on, and have a life that 

does not involve driving to and 

from AUK 5 times a week. You 

never think that your circle of 

friends will grow after hangim 

ing out with the same group of 

people that you met in college 

2 or 3 years back. If you had 

asked Tasnim a year ago where 

she would be today, never 

would she have told you that 

she would be happily employed 

at the American Embassy doim 

ing something that seemed so 

distant from her major. Tasnm 

nim thought she knew where 

life was taking her, but then 

she discovered that life had a 

totally different route planned 

out for her, and to tell you the 

truth, she kinda likes it!!! 

Copyright © 2007 


The Voice of AUK is publm 

lished in ten monthly issues 

from September through June, 

on or about the 15th of the 

month, and in a single issue 

for the months of July and Augm 

gust. Special non-news supplem 

ments are published from time 

to time. 

For advertising information, 

send email to sales@voiceofauk. 

com. The advertising deadline 

for regular issues is the 10th 

of each month. The Editorial 

Board reserves the right to accm 

cept or reject any advertisement. 

Opinions expressed in advertisem 

ments do not necessarily reflect 

those of the Voice of AUK nor 

those of the American Universm 

sity of Kuwait. 

Congratulations! 

Please join us in congratulating AUK’s 1st group of 

Peer Academic Leaders (PALs)… 

Nada Darras - Razan Sharaf - Ala’a Ali-Reda - Valentina Noronha, 

Abdallah Abdulrahman - Hussien Nour-Elddine 

PALs will offer support and advice to freshman students in 

the areas of educational planning, course selection, and the 

utilization of academic resources. They serve as mentors and 

leaders to the AUK student body. 

Affairs Officer at the US Embassy, 

then explained the Embassy’s expm 

pectations. Owens then opened 

the floor for a questions and ansm 

swers session. The students and 

their parents directed questions to 

Sharpe and Owens, who addressed 

and answered all the questions in 

detail, providing the students with 

additional advice and guidance. 

The reception came to an end with 

the US Embassy presenting the 

participants with their tickets and 

information packages. 

When asked to describe her cultm 

tural and academic experience, Senm 

nior Fatmah Al-Qadfan who was 

positioned in Dickinson College, 

first referred to “living in dorms 

and being more independent”. She 

also learned to manage her time 

better and had the unique opportunm 

nity to meet people from all over 

the world, most notably Arab-Isrm 

The Peer Academic Leaders program was created 

and implemented on April 2007 by the Student 

Success Center. The SSC is responsible for 

supervising the PALs program. If you would 

like to become a Peer Academic Leader look out 

for the application openings during the end of 

October 2007. 

For more information contact Bibi Al-Ghanim 

– PALs Supervisor at Bghanim@auk.edu.kw . 

MEPI, Continued from Page 1 

raelis. By integrating academia 

with culture in a very dynamic 

way, Fatmah felt it was “a constant 

learning process, both in and out 

the classroom.” 

According to Fatmah, meetim 

ing professionals in every field, 

including politicians, artists, and 

businessmen, was inspiring. “I am 

now more aware of my opportunitm 

ties and prospects”. 

On another note, Fatmah thinks 

AUK should push for “more comm 

munity involvement” and start a 

program to “fund and support studm 

dents who take semesters abroad”, 

both of which are adopted by Dickim 

inson College, her host university. 

21-year-old Fahad Mohammad, 

an International Studies and Historm 

ry major, is another participant who 

spent six weeks at the University of 

Delaware. He benefited most from 

the leadership workshops, which he 

would like to see AUK implement. 

Why “One learns how to work 

with people, how to negotiate, and 

as a leader, get the most out of the 

people around him.” 

For a person whose interests lie 

in Middle Eastern Politics, Kuwait 

History, and Diplomacy, engaging 

in debates and discussions with 

people from other cultures is certm 

tainly fulfilling. Not surprisingly, 

it was the lack of interaction with 

American students that he considem 

ered a negative point about the progm 

gram. 

On the other hand, diversity was 

everywhere. Fahad notes, “Not only 

was there a huge diversity in the 

people we met, with regards to their 

race, ethnicity, nationality and educm 

cation background, but also there 

was great diversity in the places we 

visited from a huge city like New 

York to the ranches of Colorado.”


The American University of 

Kuwait’s commencement 

for the class of 2007 was held 

under the patronage of Her Excm 

cellency the Minister of Educm 

cation and Higher Education, 

Ms. Nouriya Al-Sabeeh. The 

ceremony took place on Tuesdm 

day, 19th June 2007 in Al-Hashem 

emi Grand Ballroom. Over 50 

students donned their caps and 

gowns and received their diplom 

mas in the presence of family, 

friends and professors. 

At 7:15 pm and the students 

walked in to the traditional procm 

cessional ‘Pomp and Circumsm 

stance’. Once the graduates took 

their seats, Dr. Nezar Hamzeh, 

Dean of Academic Affairs gave 

the welcome remarks. The 

President of AUK, Dr. Marina 

Tolmacheva then presented the 

keynote speaker, Mr. Faisal Al- 

Ayyar, a member of the Board 

of Trustees and recipient of the 

2005 Achievement Award for 

the Arab Bankers Association of 

North American. “Your graduatm 

tion brings back memories of 31 

years ago, my graduation day. It 

was in Big Springs, Texas, which 

is probably not even shown on 

the map. The temperature there 

is almost the same as here. We 

were ten proud Air–Force offm 

ficers…with hair much shorter 

than yours.” Al-Ayyar addressed 

both graduates and guests in his 


On the 6th June 2007, the 

first English Language 

and Literature majors 

presented their thesis defense 

in the presence of Dr. Marina 

Tolmacheva, the President of 

the American University of 

Kuwait, Dr. Lisa Urkevich, 

Head of Humanities, Dr. 

Nezar Hamzeh, Academic 

Dean, as well as the English 

faculty, family and friends. 

Ms. Fatma Yousef Al-Ali, 

the Kuwaiti novelist was also 

present at the thesis defense 

as an honorary guest; she has 

written numerous collections 

of short stories including 

‘Her Face is a Nation’. Al-Ali 

was invited by Dana Taqi, an 

English major, whose thesis 

was titled “Incidents of Silent 

Awakening within Arab Short 

Stories”. During the defense, 

Taqi went on to explain how 

Arab women writers empower 

their gender and explore taboo 

issues while still maintaining 

their ability to publish. The 

Voice interviewed Professor 

Katherine Kleypas, Assistant 

Professor of English, to find 

out more about the English 

thesis. Kleypas worked closely 

with consultants at Dartmouth 

to include the senior thesis in 

the English program at AUK. 

Professor Kleypas explained 

that not all bachelor degrees 

require their students to presem 

ent a thesis, although it is not 

uncommon. She described the 

senior thesis as a regular culm 

minating experience, calling it 

a “capstone project”. Kleypas 

said that “the purpose of a 

capstone project is to take all 

of the skills that a student has 

learned throughout their four 

speech; he spoke candidly about 

his failures and experiences and 

how ultimately all the hard work 

led to his success in the corporm 

rate world. He concluded with 

a few advisory remarks, asking 

the graduates to “always the 

raise the bar; in your conduct, 

in your ethics and particularly 

in your execution…Whatever 

you choose to be, all you need is 

hard work and dedication, harnm 

nessed with good ethics.” 

Following Al-Ayyar’s speech, 

Mr. Sean Dollman, Dean of 

Admissions and Registration, 

presented the class of 2007 

while, Tolmacheva conferred 

the graduates’ degrees. Ms. Tasnm 

nim Saleh, a summa cum laude 

graduate, gave the valedictory 

remarks for the class of 2007. 

“Important as academics are,” 

she said, “there is much more to 

AUK than lectures, books, and 

labs. AUK gave us unique oppm 

portunities for work on campus 

as student workers and off-campm 

pus participating in internships. 

This allowed students to taste 

financial independence and take 

responsibility beyond the sheltm 

tered environment of their classrm 

rooms.” Al-Saleh talked about 

the different activities students 

engage in on campus, such as 

writing for the Voice of AUK and 

running for the Student Governm 

ment Association; she said that 

AUK “was not just a trip to a 

NEWS 

Class of ’07 Leaves the Nest 

AUK Graduating Class of 2007. Photo by Fatma Khamis. © 2007 AUK PR & Marketing 

years of undergraduate educatm 

tion, all their different kinds 

of literacies and I don’t mean 

just reading and writing, I 

mean knowing how to do deep 

research – how to conceptualim 

ize a critical problem and then 

in the process of doing the resm 

search answer it.” The English 

program at AUK also includes 

a theory course, which in 

Kleypas’ opinion, goes hand in 

hand with the capstone project 

and takes the bachelors educatm 

tion to a new level. 

The Literature Committee 

met to decide how this project 

should look. The main reason 

the English faculty decided to 

have the students write a thesis 

was to prepare them for success 

in graduate school. Kleypas 

explained that students in mastm 

ters and PhD programs are reqm 

quired to write seminar papers, 

and so the English faculty 

wanted to replicate that experiem 

ence in order to train students 

and give them the skills they 

would need later. 

The five students, Ghada Al- 

Abdul-Aaly, Anwaar Al-Ibrahm 

him, Dalal Al-Hendi, Budour 

Al-Qassar and Dana Taqi have 

started brainstorming with 

their chairs as far back as the 

summer of 2006. At that time, 

the students began to articulate 

the theoretical problem they 

wanted to solve and got their 

reading list together. They 

spent the summer and the Fall 

semester reading. When their 

thesis semester started, they 

were ready to start work. “In 

conjunction with the thesis dirm 

rector and second and sometm 

times third readers, the student 

then goes through a weekly 

process of continuing to refine 

the critical problem, to begin 

to answer it, to begin the actuam 

al writing process and then the 

arduous process of revision,” 

said Kleypas. At the end of the 

semester, a special event takes 

place, similar to a PhD defense, 

where the student has the oppm 

portunity to speak in front of 

the community. The thesis defm 

fense was more of a ceremony 

to celebrate the students’ work 

as it will not greatly affect their 

grade. 

Kleypas was really pleased 

with the way the first thesis 

classroom 

two or three times a day. It actm 

tually became a way of life for 

us…AUK is certainly a place 

where university comes to life, 

and that is not just a slogan!” 

In her speech, Al-Saleh urged 

the Class of 2007 to stay connm 

nected. On behalf of the graduam 

ates, Tasnim Al-Saleh concludem 

ed by thanking everyone for 

their support, parents, professm 

sors, staff members, friends and 

classmates. “AUK will always 

be our alma mater, and we will 

always be the one, the only, 

AUK class of 2007” with that 

statement, Al-Saleh stepped off 

the podium for Dr. Tolmacheva 

who gave the closing remarks 

before the recessional. 

AUK’s First Senior Thesis Defense 

Successful English Lit Senior Thesis Candidate with President Tolmacheva 

defense went, “I think that 

the students just demonstrated 

their poise, their confidence, 

their ability to articulate their 

scholarship and their ability to 

speak in public.” When asked 

about the setbacks and challm 

lenges, Kleypas stated that the 

only real problem students had 

was finding enough resources 

as the library is still buildim 

ing its collection and did not 

have some of the theoretical 

texts the students needed. As 

for the general thesis process, 

Kleypas said that it is a work in 

progress and that it will be furtm 

ther developed for the better. 

“We, the faculty who were the 

readers of the thesis, definitely 

learned a few lessons on how 

to be better readers for our studm 

dents.” Kleypas said that after 

having a semester of this as an 

experiment, the English facum 

ulty is more committed to havim 

ing a thesis. She is extremely 

proud of the students who did 

these projects and is pleased 

at the way the faculty came 

together and supported the studm 

dents, “particularly the faculty 

who weren’t expected to do so. 

It really built a community, 

and after this experience I feel 

more part of AUK’s intellectuam 

al community, and I think the 

students do to.” Kleypas says 

that the presence of the presidm 

dent and the division heads as 

well as other faculty shows a 

commitment to the developm 

ment of the students. 

At the end of the ceremony, 

President Tolmacheva gave a 

brief speech congratulating the 

students and commending their 

efforts. Finally, Dr. Tolmachevm 

va and Ms. Al-Ali presented 

the seniors with certificates. 

By Dina El-Zohairy 

What better timing 

than Ramadan do we 

have to repent and change 

our wrongdoings into good 

deeds 

This was the main message 

behind Dr. Mohammed Al- 

Awadhi and Sheikh Nabil Al- 

Awadhi’s talk on the night 

of Tuesday 25th September. 

Prior to the speakers’ arrival, 

songs from Rekaaz’s newest 

campaign’s tape were playim 

ing in the Liberal Arts auditm 

torium as students and their 

guests filled the seating area, 

forming a large audience. 

Nizar Meshal, Head of the 

SGA’s Cultural Committm 

tee, welcomed his guests by 

narrating a piece of poetry 

from Al-Mutanabi’s famous 

works. Dr. Mohammed Al- 

Awadhi was then handed 

over the microphone. 

He talked about how naturm 

ral it is for people to make 

mistakes, small or big; aftm 

ter all we are humans. Even 

the Prophet’s Companions 

sinned, but they were quick 

to repent. And so should evem 

ery wrongdoer. Feelings of 

regret followed by the desire 

to change will lead to an actm 

tual change only if one really 

wants to. “I can’t change” 

actually means I don’t want 

to change, yet. 

Now, Ramadan is an excm 

ceptional opportunity to 

change from bad to good 

or even from good to better 

and better. It is the holiest 

month of the year and one in 

which the devils are chained 

and the doors to Paradise are 

open. Sad, but it is a fact that 

many people will not live to 

witness next Ramadan, like 

some of the characters of 

Sheikh Nabil Al-Awadhi’s 

real-life stories. This life is 

indeed a race; if you look at 

your opponents you lag behm 

hind, and if you move in the 

wrong direction you lose. 

Only heading forward and 

keeping your eyes on the 

prize will save you. 

Why is it necessary to 

change now Simply because 

there may be no other time, 

no tomorrow. Maybe if people 

knew when or where or in 

what state they will die, they 

would live life to the fullest 

and synchronize repentance 

with their death. But that’s 

impossible. 

As Dr. Mohammed Al-Awadm 

dhi also clarified, glorifyim 

ing Allah and walking right 

in life does not mean putting 

on a sullen face. One can still 

laugh and enjoy life, while 

remembering it does not last 

3 


October, 2007 

Al-Awadhi Addresses Ramadan Crowd 

forever so as not to fall victm 

tim to its temptations. In fact, 

the audience reacted to the 

speakers’ contextual jokes by 

laughing heartedly every now 

and again, making a point. 

Aside from the speakers’ 

words of wisdom, which cast 

a silence of attentiveness 

on the audience, it was the 

stories that touched them to 

the point of tearing; stories 

of young men and women 

who got so indulged in life 

that they forgot their duty 

towards Allah and towards 

their community. Luckily 

enough, they were given an 

opportunity to change into 

better individuals, but only 

because the unlucky ones 

alerted them in one way or 

another. 

After narrating several storm 

ries of people from the times 

of the Prophet and people 

today, Prophet Sayings and 

verses from the Qur’an, all 

around the same topic, an 

AUK student was invited to 

the podium. Her birth name 

is Rosemary Santizo, but she 

is better known as Maryam. 

Maryam is new to Islam 

and to AUK, which she has 

joined as a visiting student 

from the University of Washim 

ington in Seattle, where she 

is majoring in International 

Studies and Islamic Studies. 

Because she is an inspiration 

for change, her story stronglm 

ly connected with the lecture 

topic. 

Maryam was asked to share 

her experience with the audiem 

ence, how as a devout Christm 

tian she first knew about 

Islam through an Arabic recim 

itation of Surat (19) Maryam 

am. She says, “Even though 

I did not understand a word, 

I knew in my heart these 

were words from Allah, and 

cried”. Maryam converted to 

Islam after studying it more 

and testing it by reading the 

Bible and the Torah. Accordim 

ing to Maryam, she chose 

the path she felt would help 

her most to glorify Allah and 

worship Him. 

After almost two hours of 

advice, tales, and inspiring 

talk, SGA President Sami 

Maan and Nizar Mishal 

awarded each of Dr. Mohamm 

med Al-Awadhi, Sheikh Nabil 

Al-Awadhi, and Maryam Santm 

tizo, a certificate as a token 

of appreciation. A number 

of perfumes promoting the 

Change campaign were distm 

tributed among the audience. 

Finally, photos of all SGA 

members with the speakers 

were taken, as the audience 

slowly left the auditorium. 

SGA’s Nizar Meshal with Dr. Mohammed Al-Awadhi and Sheikh Nabil Al-Awadhi



4 

COMMUNITY 

James McDougall John Rutland Dina Aburous Dmytro R. Kulchitsky Rizwan Ahmad Robin MacDonald Marcella Kulchitsky Penny MacDonald 

New Members of the Faculty Team 

James McDougall is a recent 

graduate from the University 

of Florida’s English Ph.D. progm 

gram, and has arrived in Kuwait 

with his wife Liulu and his son 

Colin. His research includes 

studies of modernism, revolutm 

tion, translation, and migration 

as aspects of twentieth century 

American poetry, and his teachim 

ing focuses on his passion—writim 

ing. 

In addition to English literatm 

ture, Professor McDougall is 

devoted to Chinese poetry which 

he translates in his free time. 

Before entering academia, Profm 

fessor McDougall has had incm 

carnations as a TEFL Instructor 

in South Korea; a Peace Corps 

volunteer in the People’s Republm 

lic of China; a technical writer 

for Harris RF Communication 

in Rochester, NY; a tree planter 

in northern Ontario, Canada; a 

drive-in movie theatre manager 

in Perry, New York, and sailor on 

the Great Lakes. 

Professor McDougall is excm 

cited to explore the language 

and culture of Kuwait, and looks 

forward to working with students 

and faculty at the American Univm 

versity of Kuwait. 

John Rutland was born in Nashvm 

ville, Tennessee and grew up 

in Western Kentucky. He has 

been married to Frances Bogle 

for nearly twenty-five years. He 

has two daughters, Aulica and 

أبو Tamara, and likes to be called 

‏.مترة 

He holds a BA in History from 

the University of Kentucky, MAs 

in Business and Economics from 

the University of Minnesota and 

a Ph.D. in Business Policy and 

Natural Resource Economics 

from the University of Washingtm 

ton, Seattle. He also studied intm 

ternational monetary theory and 

policy and economic developm 

ment at the Ruprecht-Karls-Univversität 

Heidelberg. His avocatm 

tions are mountain climbing and 

scuba diving. 

Dina Aburous feels fortunate 

to have lived, studied, and 

worked in the Arab world and the 

United States. She has lived in 

Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Californm 

nia, and now Kuwait. All these 

places have offered her the most 

enriching experiences, and introdm 

duced her to great people who 

have become lifelong friends, 

among them her husband, Dr. 

Raymond Farrin, who teaches at 

AUK. 

Dina holds an M.S. in Accm 

countancy from San Jose State 

University, and a B.A. degree 

from The University of Jordan. 

After passing the California CPA 

exam, she worked in multiple 

companies, most recently The 

Clorox Company where she manam 

aged the accounting functions & 

budgets for R&D (Research & 

Development). Her interest in 

teaching developed as she helped 

train many employees, thereafter 

joining a teaching credential progm 

gram at San Francisco State Univm 

versity to learn pedagogy. 

“I look forward to teaching 

and learning with my students at 

AUK.” 

Dr. Dmytro Roman Kulchitsky 

is an assistant professor of 

Public Policy in the Faculty of 

Arts and Sciences. He received 

his Ph.D. in Public Policy from 

George Mason University in 

2001. He is currently studying 

the evolution and effects of infm 

formation and communication 

technologies in the Arab region 

with an emphasis on governance, 

public policy and administration. 

Dr. Kulchitsky’s primary resm 

search areas are agenda settm 

ting and policy processes in the 

Middle East, e-government, orgm 

ganizational communication and 

information systems, and knowlem 

edge societies. 

Dr. Kulchitsky has provided 

consultancy input to the United 

Nations Development Progm 

gramme and has worked for the 

Electronic Data Systems Corporm 

ration on automation software 

projects in the US public sector. 

Before entering academia, he 

served in the Michigan House of 

Representatives. 

Dr. Rizwan Ahmad is Assistm 

tant Professor in the Departm 

ment of English. Currently, Dr. 

Rizwan is teaching composition 

courses at AUK. His basic trainim 

ing is in the field of linguistics 

and English. After earning an 

M.A. and M. Phil. in linguistics 

from the University of Delhi in 

India, Dr. Rizwan taught English 

and linguistics at the University 

of Science and Technology in 

Yemen for several years before 

starting his Ph.D. work at the 

University of Michigan, Ann 

Arbor, USA, where he received 

a second M.A. and a Ph.D. in lingm 

guistics. 

His main research interests are 

language ideology, multilingualim 

ism, and sociolinguistics of ortm 

thography. His Ph.D. dissertation 

examines the semiotic complexim 

ity of Urdu in India. He recently 

published a research paper in the 

Journal of Pragmatics. Dr. Rizwm 

wan is also interested in the socm 

ciopolitical aspects of Arabic in 

the Arab world. 

Dr. Rizwan speaks several langm 

guages: Standard Arabic, Yemeni 

Arabic, Urdu, and Hindi. He has 

scholarly interest in the Arabic 

grammatical tradition. Dr. Rizwm 

wan also has reading proficiency 

in Farsi/Persian. In his free time, 

he loves to listen to Urdu ghazal, 

and classical Arabic music espm 

pecially Om Kulthum, Abdul 

Halim Hafiz, Fairuz, and Majda 

Al-Rumi. 

Robin MacDonald is a proud 

Australian who comes to 

AUK with a combination of acadm 

demic and professional experiem 

ence. He has twelve years teachim 

ing in the Australian academic 

system and before he came to 

Kuwait he worked at Universitm 

ties in Morocco, Lebanon and 

Indonesia. 

He took his PhD in Business 

Administration from the Universm 

sity of Canterbury in 2002 and 

his work for this degree was an 

evaluation of management trainim 

ing and crisis preparedness betm 

tween industries. 

His professional experience 

covers a variety of industries and 

he has also run his own businessem 

es on several occasions during 

an extensive working career in 

public relations and marketing, 

tourism and hospitality and the 

media. He has worked for both 

government agencies and private 

enterprise organizations. 

Robin’s particular interests are 

in management training and the 

development and operation of 

effective management systems 

in the tourism and hospitality 

industry which he sees as one of 

the most significant industries for 

improving the economic situatm 

tion for many nations. 

In his short time in Kuwait he 

has been very impressed with the 

country and the Kuwaiti people 

in particular and looks forward 

to getting to know the students in 

the coming semesters. 

Marcella Kulchitsky is a lectm 

turer in the graphic design 

program at the American Universm 

sity of Kuwait. She has a Mastm 

ter’s degree in Fine Arts (MFA) 

from the School of Visual Arts, 

Boston University and a Bachelm 

lor’s in Fine Arts (BFA) from the 

University of Michigan. She has 

also studied at Yale and Parson’s 

School of Design in Paris. 

Marcella has experience in 

both the private sector and acad 

demia. She has worked as a cread 

ative director, art director, and 

senior designer for firms in the 

Washington DC area, and provided 

ed consultancy input for the Natd 

tional Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA). She 

has also taught at the American 

University of Beirut in Lebanon. 

Her areas of specialization incd 

clude corporate identity systems, 

branding strategies, and envird 

ronmental graphic design. She 

is currently studying the impact 

multilingualism on environmentd 

tal, book, and publication design 

systems. 

When Penny MacDonald 

left Australia to start her 

international teaching career littm 

tle did she realize that she would 

one day finish up teaching at the 

American University of Kuwait. 

The first woman to work in 

management in the international 

airline industry in Australia, 

Penny had found her way from 

private enterprise to academic 

teaching by chance, but it was an 

opportunity she found too good 

to walk away from. 

Penny took her PhD from Cantm 

terbury University in 2005 and 

her area of specialization was the 

development of career opportunm 

nities for women in the business 

world. 

She has run a consultancy in 

marketing and has also been invm 

volved in several women’s organm 

nizations 

Penny was at Northern Territm 

tory University for twelve years 

before embarking on an internatm 

tional career. In the last five years 

she has taught in Indonesia, Lebam 

anon, Morocco and now Kuwait. 

She enjoys teaching in both 

business management and in 

marketing because she has a 

wide professional background 

in these areas. This experience 

allows her to bring “the realitm 

ties of life” to her teaching and 

she believes that this makes 

her teaching more relevant to 

today’s world. 

Penny believes that Kuwait 

has an exciting future and looks 

forward to working with student 

to enable them to take their place 

in tomorrow’s business world. 

Attention Seniors 

Thinking about participating in the Spring 2008 graduation ceremony Preparations are under way. If you intend to compm 

plete your degree requirements by Fall 2007, Spring 2008 or Summer 2008, you may be eligible to participate in the graduation 

ceremony. The following is a list of students that we think are eligible to graduate. If you name is not on the list, please stop by 

the registration department. Prospective graduating seniors will soon receive important information via email about the graduam 

ation process, senior count down and life as an alumni of AUK. 

Engy Abbas 

Ali Abbas 

Noha Abdallah 

Abdalla AbdelRahman 

Amani Abdul-Rahman 

Maya Abou-Ismail 

Rawan Abulhasan 

Ahmad Adi 

Kheiriyeh Ahmadi 

Yousef Akbar 

Amna Akbar 

Haya Al-Abduljader 

Rakan Al-Abduljaleel 

Noura Al-Abdulkareem 

Abdulaziz Al-Abdulkareem 

Noora Al-Abdullah 

Ibrahim Al-Adasani 

Mishari Al-Ajeel 

Munira Al-Anjari 

Suliman Al-Atiqi 

Yousef Al-Awadhi 

Nahel Al-Azem 

Jasem Al-Azmi 

Rawan Al-Baghli 

Abrar Al-Baqsami 

Khalid Al-Duaij 

Hebah Al-Duaij 

Monirah Al-Eiedan 

Farah Al-Eisa 

Abdullatif Al-Eisa 

Bader Al-Fahad 

Maryam Al-Fahad 

Mohammed Al-Ghanim 

Saleh Al-Gharabally 

Mishary Al-Ghunaim 

Alanoud Al-GhunaimNoura 

Al-Hadbah 

Ebrahem Al-Hajri 

Fatima Al-Hamar 

Jassim Al-Hasawi 

Khaled Al-Hashem 

Diana Al-Hassibi 

Fay Al-Homoud 

Naima Al-Humaidhi 

Noora Al-Ibrahim 

Fatma Al-Ibrahim 

Ala’a Ali-Reda 

Waleed Al-Jaser 

Anwar Al-Jaser 

Fahad Al-Jassar 

Faten Al-Kadiri 

Ala’a Al-Kadri 

Nawar Al-Kazemi 

Abdulwahab Al-Khaldi 

Mohammed Al-Khaldi 

Shaikha Al-Khaldi 

Sara Al-Khalifa 

Hesham Al-Khamis 

Ahmed Al-Kharafi 

Hamad Al-Khudher 

Hamsah Al-Matar 

Faisal Al-Mosaibeeh 

Abdulla AlMulaifi 

Sarah Al-Mulla 

Muneera Al-Musairee 

Abdulrazzaq Al-Musallam 

Rowena Al-Mutawa 

Abdalla Al-Muzaini 

Rawan Al-Nafisi 

Yousef Al-Najadi 

Dalal Al-Oqab 

Nouf Al-Otaibi 

Nooriya Al-Othman 

Sarah Al-Qabandi 

Fatmah Al-Qadfan 

Nasser Al-Qallaf 

Abdullah Al-Qatami 

Yousef Al-Qatami 

Sulaiman Al-Qenaei 

Fahed Al-Rafidi 

Abdulrahman Al-Ramadan 

Yusuf Al-Rashed 

Anfal Al-Rashed 

Reem Al-Rashi 

Abdullah Al-Roumi 

Fouz Al-Sabah 

Noufa Al-Sabah 

Hissa Al-Sabah 

Nooriya Al-Sabah 

Majed Al-Sabah 

Lateefa Al-Sane 

Basma Al-Sanee 

Dana Al-Sarraf 

Amal Al-Sarraf 

Nasser Al-Sayegh 

Mohammed Al-Sayegh 

Abdulla Al-Shanfa 

Nouriah Al-Shatti 

Tahani Al-Soomali 

Hisham Al-Suwaidan 

Faek Al-Syriani 

Alia Al-Tukhaim 

Fahad Al-Tukhaim 

Yousef Al-Tukhaim 

Abdullah Al-Wanayan 

Wenayyan Al-Wenayyan 

Nada Al-Yahya 

Faisal Al-Zankawi 

Yazan Al-Zoubi 

Ahmed Baroudi 

Faisel Bashir 

Hadeel Behbehani 

Latifa Benessa 

Farah Bishara 

Mohammed Bokhadour 

Sarah Boodai 

Mohammad Boresly 

Nasser Bourislee 

Hamad Buhamad 

Jabran Butt 

Faisal Buzuobar 

Bader Chammaa 

Mohammed Dagher 

Nada Darras 

Naji Dimachkie 

Kristina Duwailova 

Edmound Eid 

Ghada Elalamy 

Adel El-Assaad 

Doua El-Taki 

Layan Ezzo 

Tarek Fahmy 

Ghalia Faraj 

Rawan Farhat 

Sherry Fayek 

Bahej Gabra 

Suzan Ghattas 

Salah Hafez 

Sandra Hamchaoui 

Lina Haron 

Dua’a Husain 

Noaf Hussien 

Hana Ibrahim 

Hamad Ibrahim 

David Ishou 

Mohammed Jafar 

Rawaa Jafar 

Christine Joubanian 

Lama Kablaoui 

Firas Kanawati 

Ahmed Karam 

Nadia Karam 

Hesham Khalil 

Alyaa Khuraibet 

Ali Marafie 

Laila Marafie 

Fahad Mohammad 

Valentina Noronha 

Bader Norris 

Hussein Nour-Elddine 

Ibrahim Qaddoura 

Mariam Rafehi 

Ali Redha 

Sarah Saeed 

Khadija Sarhan 

Shereen Shaheen 

Razan Sharaf 

Sarvat Sharfi 

Shahad Shihab 

Mohammed Sulaiman 

Osama Sundhu 

Abdulla Taki 

Amal Tawakuli 

Suheil Taye’a 

Sara Zakhari 

Hanan Zubaid 

Members of outgoing SGA wishing their ‘07-’08 counterparts the best of luck. 

A Letter from the SGA President 

By Sami Maan 

As 2007 - 2008 President of our Student Govem 

ernment Association, I would like to welcome 

you all to the American University of Kuwait. Attm 

tending this university for two years, has given me 

an undying appreciation for each and every student 

I have met. I’m amazed at your ambition to work 

hard in academics and extensively contribute to 

extracurricular activities here on campus. It is our 

goal not only to represent the students, but to insure 

that they have the best experience they can. 

With the support of all students that make up the 

SGA, the faculty, the staff, and the graduates, we 

will have a year of great success! I am looking 

forward to working with the various set of talented 

and committed people who will strive to create a 

better AUK experience. 

Finally, our goal, the SGA, is to interact with 

you, the students. Feel free to contact anyone on 

Student Government with any questions, concerns 

or ideas that will make this campus better. SGA is 

here to help, so help us help you by supporting us 

and give us your suggestions. 

My fellow SGA members are: Ali Al-Tukhaim, 

Vice-President; Tareq Al-Rifaai, Secretary; Nizar 

Mashal, Cultural Officer; Edmound Eid, Social 

officer; Abdulrazzaq Al-Mahmeed, IEP/Freshman 

Officer; Ala’a Ali-Redha, Media Officer, Abdulrm 

rahman Saoud Al-Farhan, P.R Officer 

I wish you all the best this year.

Get a Life at AUK 

COMMUNITY 

5 


October, 2007 

Dean Carol’s Corner 

By: Wes Sager 

Welcome to the American University 

of Kuwait! For those of you who are 

new to AUK, we hope you are now feeling 

comfortable on campus. For those who are 

returning, we hope that your summer break 

was enjoyable and you are ready for yet anom 

other rewarding year at AUK. 

There are a couple things to keep in mind 

when starting a new year at AUK. First, 

start off with energy and ambition. Make 

sure to go to all of your classes, eat well durim 

ing the appropriate times, and sleep as much 

as you can. That way, you are prepared, 

both physically and mentally, to tackle all of 

the challenges that AUK throws your way. 

Your friends and professors will be more incm 

clined to like you, and you will not have to 

scramble at the end of the term to make up 

for your poor performance in the beginning 

of the term. 

Second, make sure to introduce yourself 

to as many new people as possible. AUK 

is full of interesting people from a variety 

of backgrounds. While you may think you 

have all the friends you will ever need, you 

never know when the next person you meet 

may be your next best friend. This also goes 

for professors as well. Introduce yourself to 

your professors and make sure they know 

your name. A professor who knows you is 

more likely to give you a good grade or help 

you out if you have a problem. 

Most importantly, take advantage of what 

AUK has to offer. Starting off school at a 

new place is going to take some getting used 

to. The best way to start feeling comfortable 

at a new university such as AUK is to get invm 

volved in clubs and activities immediately. 

If you have a hobby, enjoy playing a sport, 

or want to try something new, either join 

a pre-existing club or make up your own. 

Even watching a movie in the Hangout after 

class will help you feel more comfortable at 

AUK. 

We here at the Office of Student Life want 

to help you get involved in AUK. There 

are numerous opportunities for you to get 

involved in life on campus outside of the 

classroom in addition to your experiences 

inside the classroom. Many events, intram 

mural sports, student clubs and organizatm 

tions are supported by Student Life. To fully 

support your education and personal growth 

we work to make AUK not only an academim 

ic institution, but a cultural and social one 

as well. 

For those of you interested in getting invm 

volved in AUK, Student Life is introducing 

a number of exciting programs for AUK studm 

dents. The most ambitious of these is the 

Leadership Development Initiative (LDI). 

This program will feature a presentation on 

a specific part of leadership approximately 

twice a month. These Leadership Events are 

designed to help you learn how to become 

an effective leader both on campus and in 

the professional world. 

Student Life is also coordinating a number 

of special events for the coming month. You 

may have already been to a few Ramadan 

celebrations and events put on by Student 

Life, and you can expect more of these gathem 

erings through Eid. We are also planning to 

hold sports tournaments and movie nights. 

Make sure to keep yourself informed. Check 

your e-mails and keep your eyes open for 

any new events and programs that will be 

advertised on the General Postings and 

Student Life bulletin boards located across 

campus. 

Whether you want to volunteer, start a new 

organization, or simply participate in a club, 

we can help you get involved and “Get a 

Life at AUK.” We encourage every student 

to stop by and acquaint themselves with all 

that Student Life has to offer. Please visit 

A004 with any questions or suggestions. 

First Impressions from the Executive Director 

By Dr. Carol Ross-Black 

Welcome to the Dean’s 

Corner, ’07-’08 Edition! 

This little corner of the Voice 

is reserved for Dr. Carol, Dean 

of Student Affairs. With each 

issue, there will be something 

to make your day brighter or 

clearer. Occasionally, it will 

be cloudy and dusty. We do 

not want many of those days! 

Always check out the corner! 

Feedback on topics is always 

welcome. 

Nagging lesson number 1. 

(It is the beginning of the year, 

what did you expect) 

Please keep in mind that AUK 

must abide by the laws of segrm 

regation. You will notice varyim 

ing ways of implementing the 

law from segregated classes to 

separate seating and activities. 

Respect the law! 

Your college experience is 

priceless. Value it. Treat it bettm 

ter than you would the amazing 

matching Gucci purse, shoes 

and belt. Cherish this experm 

rience more than you would 

your dream car. What are you 

worth 

Yea, Class of 2008! Welcome 

Class of 2011! Have an amazing 

year. Backing out of the Dean’s 

Corner until next time! dcar 

By Ernest Conklin 

warm welcome to all AUKites-studm 

A dents, faculty, staff, those returning and 

those starting on an educational experience 

not soon to be forgotten. 

“How good is AUK going to be” Since 

I arrived in Salmiya one month ago I have 

been asked this question by parents of potm 

tential students, by prominent businessmen 

in the community and even by faculty and 

staff seeking employment at AUK. I interpm 

pret “How good” to mean will a degree from 

AUK be acceptable at other universities if 

the student wishes to pursue a higher degm 

gree or recognized by an employer wanting 

to hire a qualified graduate This question 

is for the future to answer but for now my 

answer is, “The American University of Kuwm 

By: Dina El-Zohairy 

Working in the Admissions department 

is probably the best professional 

opportunity AUK has offered me. I have 

seen all aspects of a work environment 

and dealt with diverse students and parents 

during my one-and-a-half year experience. 

I have witnessed staff members leave and 

others join, and improvements to interior 

design and computer databases. I have 

basically grown with the Admissions team, 

which I consider a second family, and 

who are my friends even after I left the 

department seeking a new challenge. 

At times of inactivity I would be twiddm 

dling my thumbs and wishing for the phone 

to ring. In contrast, prior to every semestm 

wait is not going to be a good university; it 

is going to be a great university.” Why am I 

so certain Because when I have the opportm 

tunity to discuss AUK with the people invm 

volved in its founding and its early planners 

and designers, I feel a passion and true desire 

by them to make something great happen in 

education for the State of Kuwait, the region 

and the world that has never really happened 

here before-quality education with a strong 

focus on developing leaders. 

Kuwait has a number of good universitm 

ties. There are many good companies in 

Kuwait and life in the country is good but 

good is the enemy of great. To be satisfied 

with what you have because it is good is the 

key reason why greatness is very seldom accm 

complished. 

You have been individually accepted into 

AUK based upon your personality, educatm 

tional qualifications, ability to apply yoursm 

self and how adeptly you comprehend Englm 

lish, our language of instruction. However, 

the most important facet of your selection 

process was in the observation of your charam 

acter. AUK accepts students that we feel 

will possess leadership qualities that include 

the ability to communicate, to comprehend 

and use modern technology, to think criticm 

cally and to act professionally by involving 

and directing others. AUK is looking for 

good students that will graduate and accompm 

plish greatness! You have been chosen. We 

expect nothing less than greatness from you. 

Your greatness will clearly answer the questm 

tion “How good is AUK going to be” 

Complementing Education with Student Work 

ter there would be an influx of prospective 

students, inquisitive parents, and incessm 

sant phone calls. These were the times that 

challenged our efforts as an Admissions 

team and how well we were coordinated 

as a chain of administrative departments 

all working together to achieve one goal. I 

can’t say it was easy all the time, because 

multitasking and working under pressure 

to meet deadlines needs patience and sharp 

management skills. Sometimes we had to 

work outside regular working hours to ensm 

sure smooth procession of work activities, 

which I was always open to, simply becm 

cause I felt obliged as a team member and 

dedicated to the department which enabled 

me to start from zero and grow into a more 

responsible individual as I grasped Admissm 

sions policies and procedures and tested my 

skills. 

Most of all, I feel lucky to have taken part 

in the first internal government scholarship 

program in Kuwait. I was privileged to be 

involved in the planning phase, in which I 

learned many new skills from the professm 

sionals. But beyond such benefits, simply 

following up with an application till it fruits 

into a new AUK student hanging around 

campus, smiling at you, makes me happy— 

in other words, student workers play a role, 

even if minor, in the careers of students 

seeking a good education. 

Dartmouth Interns Weston Robert Sager and Daniel Joseph O’Brien 

Fall ‘07 Dartmouth Interns 

Dan and Wes 

Student Affairs 

Weston Robert SAGER is 

a third-year student at 

Dartmouth College. A major 

in Arabic Language and Literam 

ature with a Minor in History, 

Weston is pleased to again be 

residing overseas after living 

in Fez, Morocco during the 

summer of 2006. 

Weston is from the small 

town of Wakefield, New Hampsm 

shire, where he grew up on a 

farm with chickens, pigs, and 

steer. When he is at his house, 

Weston enjoys playing with 

his dog and going on hikes. 

He has worked on a number of 

local political campaigns, and 

continues to follow politics 

closely. 

At Dartmouth, Weston is 

involved in a number of organm 

nizations. In addition to being 

an Arabic teaching assistant 

and Arabic research assistant, 

Weston serves as an editor for 

Dartmouth’s only independent 

newspaper, The Dartmouth 

Review, and is a brother at Sigm 

ma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. 

During his free time, Weston 

enjoys playing ping-pong and 

reading history books. 

Currently, Weston is interem 

ested in researching Media Aram 

abic and hopes to write a thesis 

on this topic following his stay 

in Kuwait. Weston is honored 

to be an intern at the Americm 

can University in Kuwait and 

looks forward to contributing 

to life at the school. 

Weston will be working in 

the Office of Student Life, the 

Writing Center, and the Intensm 

sive English Program. 

Daniel Joseph O’BRIEN 

’09 (“Dan”) is a sophomore 

at Dartmouth College. He is 

from Hampstead, New Hampsm 

shire, where he has lived all 

his life. He is a Government 

Major with Arabic and Religm 

gion Minors. He is especially 

interested in diplomatic and 

security issues. In the past Dan 

has achieved the rank of Eagle 

Scout in the Boy Scouts of 

America, as well as the rank of 

Black Belt in Ueichi Ryu style 

of Karate. 

At Dartmouth, Dan has 

worked as an Undergraduate 

Advisor in the Department of 

Residential Life. In his spare 

time he plays piano and violin 

and enjoys camping, canoeing, 

biking, and other outdoor actm 

tivities. 

His first experience outsm 

side of the country was in the 

summer of 2006 on a Langm 

guage Study Abroad Program 

(LSA+) to Fes, Morocco, 

where he took courses in Modem 

ern Standard Arabic, Moroccm 

can Colloquial, and Moroccan 

Politics, Culture, and Society. 

He is excited to return to the 

Arab world and hopes to get 

a clearer picture of Arab cultm 

ture. 

Dan will be working in the 

Student Success Center, the 

Office of Student Life, and the 

Intensive English Program. 

Weston & Dan will be at AUK 

until the middle of November 

2007. They are the sixth pair 

of interns to join AUK from 

Dartmouth College.



6 

Moments to Cherish at Dartmouth 

By: Rama Sabano 

Around this time last year, I 

was one of two students who 

were lucky enough to be selected 

for an internship, which I have 

come to realize was a ‘lucky oppm 

portunity’ of a lifetime, an oppm 

portunity to intern in the Rassias 

Program (Intensive Language 

program) at Dartmouth College. 

They say “Luck is the moment at 

which preparation meets opportm 

tunity”. And I believe AUK had 

prepared me for such an opportunm 

nity. The chance of being able to 

travel and meet new people from 

all over the world, to exchange 

information about languages & 

cultures, was simply priceless. 

For those of you who do not 

know, The Rassias Program is 

an Intensive language curriculm 

lum, in which people of all ages 

may participate. Mr. John Rassm 

sias, founder of this program, 

had one simple goal, which he 

so amusingly sang to everyom 

one all the time. It went a little 

something like this, “Hey Hey, 

Ho Ho, Monolinguism’s gotta 

go”. On that basis, the program 

offered various languages such 

as Arabic, Italian, Spanish, 

French, Russian, Japanese, Germ 

man, and Chinese. I was mainly 

a Teacher’s Assistant for Arabic, 

but then I had the chance to help 

out with the French and Intensm 

sive English departments. 

As I mentioned earlier, I was 

fortunate enough to meet a lot 

of people and make new friends 

(one was an 86-year-old studm 

dent!) who I have kept in close 

touch with, despite the distance. 

I remember going there with 

much passion to change any 

wrong views and opinions they 

may have perceived about Arabs. 

Speaking of which, I actually 

found myself being judged on 

the first day of being there becm 

cause of my “popped” collar and 

pearl earrings (from that day on, 

I was bestowed upon the simple 

nickname, “Princess”). I realized 

later, when speaking to them all, 

that being Middle-Eastern, living 

in the desert of Kuwait, they expm 

pected someone a little more tradm 

ditional-looking. Possibly wearim 

ing a “hijab”, and a “dara’a” 

And maybe even with a slight 

accent I understood where they 

AUK-ERS ABROAD 

were coming from, because later 

on I found myself doing the exact 

same thing. When I met a student 

who was from Alaska, I automatim 

ically found myself asking her if 

they lived in igloos there! Now I 

realize why it is so important to 

live in diverse places, because 

you automatically open your 

eyes to various cultures. 

This Internship at Dartmouth 

College was definitely a most 

memorable one. It was not only a 

huge benefit to my academic and 

personal growth, but also a wondm 

derful experience for me. I feel 

it helped me become a better indm 

dividual, by helping develop my 

social, mental and academic skills. 

I also got a chance to gain knowlem 

edge from some of the greatest langm 

guage teachers, as well as build up 

my confidence. Being a teacher’s 

assistant helped me develop leadem 

ership skills that I can now demonsm 

strate to future employers. 

In conclusion, I wish everyone 

can have the chance to experience 

what I did this summer. I know one 

thing; this program has inspired me 

to move on to my next step in life: 

Learning Chinese! Neehaw! 

Nadia’s “Mind-Opening Experience” at LSE 

By Nur Soliman 

The highly acclaimed Londm 

don School of Economics 

is an old, mellowed brick structm 

ture, situated in Clare Market 

and Houghton Street, London. It 

was conceived in 1895 by four 

Fabian fellows, one of them notm 

tably George Bernard Shaw. With 

“rerum cognoscere causas,” or 

“know the causes of things” as its 

motto, LSE is one of the world’s 

leading research stations, particulm 

larly in the Social Sciences. The 

Voice asked Nadia Karam, a senm 

nior student at AUK, to relate her 

six-week experience in LSE this 

past summer. She spent those six 

weeks taking two courses, actuam 

ally Masters and PhD. Courses, 

the first entitled “Global Civil Socm 

ciety,” the second, “Building Dem 

mocracies from Conflict.” 

Nadia’s first word was an entm 

thusiastic “overwhelming…” The 

rigorous academic experience and 

the “independent student’s life”, 

Nadia explains, were so impressm 

sive that it left her stunned for sevem 

eral days. “It was as though I was 

hit by a train! I kept asking myself, 

‘Where am I’” She learnt an incm 

credible amount from the lectures, 

and the books, “literally living on 

coffee just to get through.” “I was 

flabbergasted,” Nadia says, by the 

material offered in the courses. 

She also mentioned going back 

time and time again to the huge 

five-storey library, which quickly 

became her “favorite spot.” 

In addition of learning from 

books, Nadia continues, she 

learnt a lot from the people she 

met over the course of those six 

weeks. “In my first class,” Nadia 

says, “I could count at least eleven 

different nationalities, and in my 

second, there were too many to 

count!” She also commented on 

the diversity in age – there were 

students in their 40s and 50s 

studying similar courses. 

However, cultural boundaries 

meant nothing, as Nadia says “it 

all boiled down to [the fact that] 

we wanted to learn. We wanted to 

enrich our knowledge… some of 

us took the class simply to complem 

ment our learning. LSE provided 

me with a chance to challenge my 

potentials.” Nadia attributes this 

to the motivation that bound these 

culturally diverse students, many 

of which have become fast friends 

with Nadia, and with whom she 

still keeps in touch. 

“What could AUK adopt from 

LSE” Nadia has several suggm 

gestions, but there was one she 

repeated. “We really ought to 

encourage our students to learn, 

simply for learning’s sake… to 

push their boundaries and broaden 

their minds,” through things like 

encouraging independence, anonym 

ymously marked tests for fairness, 

and the like. These would create 

truly intellectual individuals, 

Nadia Karam and friends at the London School of Economics 

Nadia believes, and encourages 

maximum use of people’s “mentm 

tal faculties.” 

Nadia considers a career as a 

professor, teaching Global Politm 

tics, International Law or Internm 

national Relations. Nadia even 

received an invitation from the 

Co-Director of the Center for 

Global Governance to apply for a 

Masters degree at LSE. And when 

asked about where she sees hersm 

self in the near future, Nadia has 

a quick response: “LSE.” 

Rama Sabano and Hana Ibrahim put on Arabic Culture event with fellow Rassias staffers. 

Resolving Conflict in Lebanon 

By Hana Ibrahim 

Being a student intern sent 

by the American University 

of Kuwait to Dartmouth where 

I worked as an assistant teacher 

of Arabic in the Rassias Foundm 

dation’s Accelerated Language 

Program of 2007 summer was 

one of the greatest experiences 

of my life. 

During my internship, I gained 

thorough knowledge and insight 

which has benefited in my intellm 

lectual, professional, and social 

growth in and outside the workpm 

place. I am thrilled to share my 

experience and excited to help 

individuals grow as I did. 

This was a very special experm 

rience for me for various reasm 

sons. First of all, being part of 

the Rassias Foundation program 

was a lot of fun. There was an 

excellent team atmosphere and 

I really enjoyed being able to 

work with all people. On the micm 

cro level, it was very rewarding, 

and testing at the same time. 

In addition, I interacted with 

different people from different 

countries speaking different langm 

guages. This gave me an apprecm 

ciation for the cultural and intellm 

lectual diversity of our world. 

The Arabic Cultural tent was the 

living heart of all of this internsm 

ship. There were no weekends. 

Participating in the Arabic tent 

was something to be proud of. 

Having not only students from 

the Arabic program but other 

foreign students from other 

language programs wanting to 

be part of our group is indeed 

something that reflects how succm 

cessful the team I worked with 

was. We used to meet with the 

students and other participants 

in the program to share ideas, 

thoughts and interact with each 

other. It was a unique and valuam 

able opportunity there. The 

knowledge, experience, and relm 

lationships that I gained will be 

with me for the rest of my life. 

I took back with me new concm 

cepts, perceptions and a vision I 

may want to adapt or shape my 

life on both personal and professm 

sional levels. 

From a macro perspective, 

however, it seems that everytm 

thing one does is just a very 

small drop on a hot stone. But 

that brings me back to one thing 

I really liked about this internsm 

ship from the very beginning: 

it allowed me to discover what 

I want for my graduate studies. 

It has been a practical example 

of the concepts and theories that 

I have learned while seeing how 

hungry people were to learning 

a new language, the Arabic langm 

guage. 

Before, I could not say with any 

degree of certainty what direction 

my studies would take. But now I 

am graduating next spring with a 

plan to pursue my graduate studim 

ies in the methods of teaching 

Arabic to foreigners. Being an 

intern helped me plan to eventuam 

ally go back to school to receive 

my Master’s degree and would 

love to get involved with teaching 

methods at some point. 

I believe we must seek out oppm 

portunities to explore other discipm 

plines, and to interact with othem 

ers. I have undoubtedly benefited 

from my participation in the intm 

ternship and the experiences and 

relationships it has afforded me 

will surely shape my future career 

path. I don’t think I would have 

considered myself passionate 

about teaching before. I simply 

didn’t know enough about it to 

have developed a passion at that 

point. 

As I continue reflecting on my 

experience, this internship has 

given me the incredible opportunm 

nity to learn more about myself. I 

now have a better understanding 

of my own personal capabilities 

in communication, working with 

different people and handling 

new/challenging situations. 

Lastly, I was invited to participm 

pate in the historical Wolfeboro, 

N. H., Independence Day Parade. 

I also was honored with the invitm 

tation of New Hampshire Senator 

John Sununu. Marching in this extm 

traordinary event was a moment 

to cherish for life. I really did not 

want this experience to end. 

A summer internship abroad 

is an experience that everyone 

should have and it’s something 

that you have to DO to really 

understand how valuable that 

experience will be. Internships 

abroad do encourage students 

to grow and learn in every way 

possible—intellectually, professm 

sionally, and personally. This is 

something that I will never ever 

forget because it has enriched 

my life in so many ways, you 

have to experience it yourself to 

understand what I mean. Ibrahm 

him 


This summer, two students from AUK participated 

in a conflict-resolution program in Lebanon. The 

purpose of the program is to familiarize individuals 

with various ways of understanding the genesis of a 

conflict and the various ways of resolving them. The 

workshop enabled the students to view real-scenario 

conflicts from the lens of “mediators” in order for 

them to come up with neutral ways of resolving the 

conflict. Another crucial part of the summer program 

is the knowledge of peace-building. The Voice intervm 

viewed Fahad Al-Tukhaim, one of the participants 

and asked him to relate his experience. 

“Lebanon is a very interesting place for anyone,” 

said Al-Tukhaim. “If you are a political science, comm 

munication, anthropology or even English major; you 

will find Lebanon a very mind stimulating case study 

in its own right. Overall, the cultural experience from 

my trip to Lebanon was priceless.” According to Al- 

Tukhaim, he went with clear ideas of what to expect, 

and was proven wrong. “I am sure that a lot of Kuwm 

waiti students will be in shock once they set foot on 

Lebanon and mingle with the people to understand 

their country. Lebanon is a very beautiful place that 

is rich with culture and history and is populated with 

amazing people. The hospitality was unreal. Once they 

know that you are a foreigner, they make it their job 

to ensure you have a great time.” Al-Tukhaim blames 

corrupt politics and the media for taking the best out 

of that country and trying to give it a bad reputation. 

“You can never understand the politics of Lebanon 

unless you go there and see for yourself. And believe 

me; cab drivers have a lot to say,” he said. 

Al-Tukhaim said that the trip gave him valuable tools 

that will ultimately help him in his professional career in 

diplomacy. He believes that both negotiation and medm 

diation will come in handy and that the experience gave 

him a taste for what diplomacy is really like. Al-Tukhaim 

said, “this whole workshop was about communication so 

it correlates quite perfectly with my major.” 

Al-Tukhaim also spoke about the activities he enjm 

joyed the most. The first was the oil quota activity which 

his team one. In this activity, the participants recreated a 

typical OPEC scenario, where two countries competed 

for oil prices through negotiations in order to provide oil 

for the market. Another activity Al-Tukhaim enjoyed 

was the group dialogue in which the participants discm 

cussed the issues they felt most passionately about, and 

they found out that that all had something in common. 

This activity could have been applied in real life to the 

many sects in Lebanon. Al-Tukhaim’s favorite activity 

however was the “Open Space” activity where he led 

a discussion on two main issues that the Middle East 

faces today. The first issue dealt with arms or who has 

the right to own arms in a state and what constitutes as 

“self defense”. The second issue he discussed was “The 

separation of religion from politics”. “This was quite 

interesting concerning the Lebanese input towards this 

issue but no one got hurt,” said Al-Tukhaim. 

The Voice asked Al-Tukhaim if he sees AUK partm 

ticipating in more such programs or possibly hosting 

them. Al-Tukhaim was very optimistic and supportive 

of such programs, “you see, AUK is a growing universm 

sity and activities such as these will only make it stand 

out in the scholastic field in the Middle East region as 

a prestigious school that invests greatly in extracurrm 

ricular activities. You need that kind of drive and motm 

tivation to gain a seat next to the giants.” Al-Tukhaim 

concluded by saying, “The name of a university does 

not just stop at what is being offered in the classrooms, 

it’s that is outside that generates the buzz from a public 

relations point of view.” 

Fahad Al-Tukhaim giving a talk in Lebanon

OPINIONS & EDITORIALS 

7 


October, 2007 

Free Speech: An Open Letter to... 

We’re Not Sure Who 

Freedom of expression 

and an open environmment 

within which to pursue 

scholarly inquiry and to share 

information are encouraged, 

supported, and prottected 

at the American 

University of Kuwait. 

Censorship is not comppatible 

with the goals 

of AUK. Students…are 

free to express opiniions 

publicly and 

privately. (2006-07 

Student Handbook, 

98-99) 

During the Spring 

Semester, a number of 

incidents took place 

on campus that contradm 

dicted that statement. 

A project of the Journm 

nalism students “The 

AUK Telegraph” –an 

online news magazine 

(it was not actually 

online; rather, it was 

to be distributed on 

CD ROM) was not allm 

lowed to be circulated 

because it allegedly 

contained content that 

was “culturally insensm 

sitive”, despite the 

fact that it was written 

by members of this culture, 

covering events taking place 

publicly in this culture. 

The first edition of AUK’s 

Art and Literary Journal was 

withheld from publication untm 

til certain content was deleted 

or altered on the instructions 

of the administration. 

Neither of these incidents 

could be construed as ‘encouram 

aging’, ‘supporting’, or ‘protm 

tecting’ freedom of speech. 

They are, on the contrary, 

fairly clear-cut instances of 

censorship. Thus, if one were 

to take the words cited above 

at face value, one couldn’t 

but draw the conclusion that 

AUK’s administration is operam 

ating in a way that is 

“not compatible with 

the goals of AUK”. 


also suffered in this 

war against the freedm 

dom of speech. The 

Editorial members of 

the Voice temporarim 

ily suspended publm 

lications in a futile 

attempt to find out 

where the ‘red lines’ 

are drawn at AUK. 

On behalf of the 

community, the Editm 

torial Board of the 

Voice is hereby reqm 

questing clarification 

in these matters. We 

ask that an unambigum 

uous, university-wide 

editorial policy be 

drafted along with a 

set of procedures for 

its application. 

As always, we urge 

members of the comm 

munity to participate 

in the discussion by 

submitt ing thier views on 

the subject for publication in 

these pages, so that a 

Voice of AUK, 

Editorial Board 

The Holocaust: Lessons not 

Learned 

By Walah Al-Sabah 

The Holocaust. It might ring 

in some people’s ears, suddm 

denly conjuring up images of 

piles of dead bodies, Stars of 

David, Gas Chambers, and of 

course, Adolf Hitler. To others, 

it might pass by unnoticed and 

unheeded. For those who do 

not know what the Holocaust 

is, shockingly, it was the mass 

killing of Jews, Gypsies, the 

mentally and physically disam 

abled, political prisoners, and 

other groups that were “unfit 

to live” under Hitler’s Germanm 

ny during World War 2. Some 

people mistakenly define the 

Holocaust as the “mass exterm 

mination of Jews under Hitler’s 

regime”. The Jews were not 

the only ones to be slaughtered 

by the Nazis. Other groups 

were targeted as well, such as 

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Soviet 

prisoners of war, Belarusians, 

Social Democrats, journalists, 

Serbs, Bosniaks, some Africm 

cans, some Asians, and Polish 

citizens. 

No matter how I try to dram 

matize the Holocaust and make 

it seem as a tragedy, it speaks 

for itself. It was cruel, harsh, 

and extremely inhumane. Howem 

ever, the purpose of this article 

is not to discuss whether the 

Holocaust was right or wrong. 

My goal as a human, student, 

and as a person is to question 

why the Holocaust was never 

taught to us when we were in 

school. Why were we used to 

seeing pages blacked out in 

our history textbooks or torn 

out altogether Why are we 

hiding the truth Is it because 

the group most victimized durim 

ing the Holocaust is our socalled 

enemy Or is it because 

the Ministry of Education was 

so worried that we would be 

hurt by the brutal scenes of the 

Holocaust that they decided 

to make us ignorant about the 

most horrific and repulsive 

genocide of all time 

Readers of this article might 

ask why I have endeavored to 

write about the Holocaust sixtm 

ty-five years later after it occm 

curred. Others might question 

my loyalty to my religion and 

my “Arabness” on the grounds 

that since it was the Jews who 

were victimized during the 

Holocaust, no Muslim or Arab 

has the right to acknowledge 

that the Holocaust happened. 

My answer to those people is 

to read the Qur’an; read the 

Prophet’s (PBUH) Hadith; see 

how the two always speak out 

for truth, justice, and educatm 

tion then come back and tell 

me whether my duty is to hide 

the truth and not to educate 

myself. As far as I know, our 

religion is a promoter of peace, 

justice, and truth. 

It is shocking that there are 

people who do not know what 

the Holocaust is. But, are they 

to be blamed if all mention of 

the Holocaust was censored 

from their history textbooks 

Absolutely not. It is the resm 

sponsibility of the people who 

have chosen not to educate 

students in schools about such 

an important subject. To deny 

something that is historical is 

simply outrageous. It far excm 

ceeds the bounds of reason. 

Some people might convm 

vince themselves that they ream 

ally do not need to learn about 

the Holocaust because it did 

not affect them; they weren’t 

the people who were killed or 

whose families were killed, 

and that it won’t happen again. 

And, that, my dear readers, is 

exactly the problem. The truth 

is that if we, as students, do not 

know about or deny one of the 

greatest genocides in history, it 

is all the more likely to happen 

again in the future. By this, it 

will be a victory to the perpetm 

trators of genocide. 

Can we do anything about 

the Holocaust Of course not. 

It happened more than sixty 

years ago and the people who 

have died have died. Nonethelm 

less, to prevent another Holm 

locaust in the future, the first 

step to be taken is to educate 

people about the one that did 

happen in the early 1940’s undm 

der Hitler’s Nazi Regime. In 

the end, “Education is not the 

answer to the question. Educatm 

tion is the means to the answer 

to all questions.” 

Little Venice and Its Big Dictator 

By Farah Al-Shamali 

rushed out of the Liberal Arts Building afraid I 

I wasn’t going to make it to Dr. Ohan’s lecture: 

Hugo Chavez and his views on Socialism and 

Oil. When I arrived, no one was there yet but the 

professor so I took my seat quite certain that a 

good number of students would turn out. It was 

well past 6:30 before we realized that no one else 

would be coming. Dr. Ohan was determined to 

share the knowledge he had accumulated about 

the subject even if it was to only one person. I 

thank him for giving me the lecture; it was truly 

interesting and had people come, they would 

have enjoyed it as well. 

The need to be politically aware is constantly 

enforcing itself upon the youth of this world but 

they unfortunately refuse to comply. Especially 

in this war-torn and thus unstable region of the 

world, Middle-Easterners should take heed to 

being informed about the daily occurrences that 

most often relate to them and which could dictm 

tate their futures. We hope for Kuwait never to 

be directly entangled in matters that may threatem 

en its existence, but its youth must open their 

eyes to the harsh reality that is continually in 

development (for the worse) around them. This 

region is at all times susceptible to war due to 

the many civil wars occurring in some countries 

that may escalate beyond their borders at any 

given time. 

One of the issues that we should be informed 

about is in fact that of Venezuela’s importance 

on the world stage due to its resilient leader, 

Hugo Chavez. Believing that there may be some 

interested in this topic, I have gathered the main 

points that were covered. The question that the 

professor had posed for this lecture was whether 

Venezuela could be the Kuwait of South Amerim 

ica. Present-day Venezuela was first discovered 

by European explorers who had named it “Little 

Venice” after observing that local houses were 

built on stilts over water. 

In comparing Venezuela to Kuwait, one similm 

larity is both nations’ possession of crude oil 

reserves. In 1986, Venezuela had become the 

largest producer of oil and did not capitalize 

on the economic windfall of oil. Another fascm 

cinating similarity which none may have consm 

sidered is that like Kuwait, Venezuelans of the 

14 century had made a living from pearl fishing 

off the northeastern coast. Lastly, Hugo Chavez 

believes in democracy and its benefits much like 

Kuwait’s past and present leaders do. Venezuem 

ela had gained its independence in 1821whereas 

Kuwait had gained it in 1961 after being a Britim 

ish protectorate. 

At the time of its independence, Venezuela 

did not have a strong ruling class or even a stabm 

ble upper class. Instead, it had been dominated 

by successive waves of nouveaux riches—men 

who had risen to political power. What would 

amaze most people about Venezuela in a world 

that has been characterized by ethnic discriminm 

nation is its “natural inclination towards racial 

equality” as stated by Augusto Mijares, one of 

Venezuela’s best-known historians. Class and 

status in Venezuela are not determined by econm 

nomic factors or by skin color and background; 

Venezuelans get what they deserve according 

to merit whereas some things in Kuwait are resm 

solved by favoritism. The native population of 

Venezuela had disappeared due to Spanish expm 

ploitation. Another reason was because people 

had succumbed to several diseases. Simon Bolm 

livar, infamous for his independence movement 

across South America and as the second presidm 

dent of Venezuela following its independence, 

had once declared that “the blood of our people 

is different; we will mix it so as to unite it.” 

Hugo Chavez retells an interesting story of 

how he eventually came to power in Venezuela. 

The 1980’s were a period of worldwide economim 

ic recession fueled by a decline in the world’s 

oil prices. Venezuelan leaders had to take measm 

sures to enhance their economy and relieve 

themselves of debt. In 1989, President Perez 

announced austerity measures which included a 

rise in bus fares. This angered the Venezuelan 

people, who resorted to massive looting, resultim 

ing in the killing of hundreds. Hugo Chavez was 

part of a group of soldiers who were dispatched 

to end the fighting. He was angered by orders to 

shoot into a crowd of Venezuelan citizens. That 

in itself is an act of humanity that shifted public 

opinion in his favor. In 1992, Lieutenant Hugo 

Chavez attempted a coup against President 

Perez. Remarkably kept alive, he was given 

45 seconds on national TV to tell others to lay 

down their weapons. Only after Hugo Chavez 

had used this chance did Perez realize that it had 

been a mistake. Chavez had proclaimed that his 

movement was unsuccessful “por ahora”, or for 

now. “Por ahora” graffiti was sprayed all along 

the streets and buildings of the capital city of 

Caracas. Perez was thus forced to leave office 

as Chavez was released from prison. 

In 1998, Chavez ran for president, winning 

by a landslide victory of 60 % of the votes. In 

today’s politics, that number is quite impressive 

for any candidate. Soon, he emerged as a hero to 

the people. Some of his most major reforms were 

putting himself in economic power and cutting 

down oil production to raise oil prices. There 

was a difference in Venezuela’s literacy rate 

under Chavez as he was believed to be a ruler 

working out of love for his country—a very rare 

and unseen trait in today’s political leaders. Dr. 

Ohan even made comparison of Hugo Chavez to 

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who 

also puts his nation’s needs before his own not 

caring what others have to say of his ventures. 

These countries are considered to be irrational, 

increasing nationalism and refusing to conform 

to other political and economic systems and 

practices. 

Chavez was reelected in 2000 with a new 

struggle to face: making Venezuela as well as 

the rest of South America more diplomatically 

independent of the United States. He began 

doing so by strengthening Latin America’s natm 

tionalism and even giving large sums of money 

to neighboring countries that they would norm 

mally get from the United States. Chavez has 

been described as a fox for portraying himself 

as the valiant resister of U.S. power. Directly 

attacking the United State’s capitalist economy, 

he had described it as “the way of the devil and 

exploitation.” In his support for socialism, he 

has said that “if you really want to look at things 

through the eyes of Jesus Christ—who I think 

was the first socialist—only socialism can really 

create a genuine society.” Furthermore, Chavez 

has bluntly characterized the United States 

thirst, shall we say, for oil believing that Bush 

wants Iraq’s oil and is after Venezuela’s. Desm 

spite criticism, President Hugo Chavez is seen 

as a charismatic and exciting ruler that we have 

yet to see more from in the years to come. 

There is a lot more to say on this subject, and it 

all would have been heard had students troubled 

themselves to attend Professor Ohan’s talk. I can 

not stress enough the fact that students of the AUK 

community are always declining these opportunitm 

ties offered by faculty members. I am not merely 

asking students to attend, but to also to show some 

interest in matters of importance in our world. In 

the end, it is for your benefit because stepping 

out into society without a political background 

will only hinder your understanding of the world 

around you. You may think it to be of no significm 

cance. Why should I care if Iran is threatened by 

war Unless you don’t know your geography, you 

will recognize how pertinent it is to know and act 

upon this possibility and many others. We do care 

about this world and where it is headed; all we 

need is something to take us on the right path and 

that is what the university is trying to instigate 

with these orations. Why let them go to waste



8 

Spring ‘07 Dean’s List 

Fatmah Al-Qadfan 

Fahad Mohammad 

Sara Zakhari 

Maya Abou-Ismail 

Dalal Al-Hendi 

Naima Al-Humaidhi 

Lama Kablaoui 

Abdulla AlMulaifi 

Abrar Al-Baqsami 

Ala’a Ali-Reda 

Alia Al-Khaled 

Bibi Al-Ahmed 

Engy Abbas 

Munira Al-Anjari 

Abdulla Taki 

Noufa Al-Sabah 

Tarek Al-Nafisi 

Ghada Al-AbdulAaly 

Noora Al-Ibrahim 

Sarah Al-Mulla 

Rana Al-Najjar 

Rasha Al-Najjar 

Dana Al-Sarraf 

Abdulla Al-Shanfa 

Jawaher Ali-Redha 

Mohammed Baker 

Fatima Buhaimed 

Sarah Boodai 

Naji Dimachkie 

Sherry Fayek 

Mada Hammoud 

Sandra Hamchaoui 

Shadi Ibrahim 

Hadi Sarieddine 

Abdullatif Al-Eisa 

Esraa Al-Shammari 

Hussein Nour-Elddine 

Firas Kanawati 

Talal Sorour 

Mohammed Dabash 

Kheiriyeh Ahmadi 

Hana Ibrahim 

Mohamed Gad 

Amani Abdul-Rahman 

Khaled Al-Hashem 

Ahmad Adi 

Shahad Shihab 

Abdullah Al-Far 

Bushra Zaher 

Hussien Jumah 

Nadia Al-Jazzaf 

Reem Al-Rashi 

Fahed Al-Dawey 

Abdulrahman Al-Farra 

Fahad Al-Tukhaim 

Mariam Al-Rayes 

Suheil Taye’a 

Farah Al-Mekhled 

Mazyad Al-Masoud 

Yousef Al-Tukhaim 

Naser Quortom 

Amro Sarhan 

Tuleen Mahroussah 

Haya AlSharhan 

Mays Naser 

Ibrahim Qaddoura 

Adla Al-Madahka 

Nizar Mashal 

Tareq Al-Rifaai 

Shereen Shaheen 

Nora Al-Refaie 

Faten Al-Kadiri 

Hanan Al-Yousef 

Shoug Al-Khatrash 

Rawan Al-Muzaini 

Norah Al-Hilaly 

Layal Ashkanani 

Sally Saleh 

Mohammed Fares 

Fares Fares 

Dana Al-Madani 

Nadia Al-Fadhli 

Dalal Al-Sabah 

Abdalla AbdelRahman 

Noaf Hussien 

Mustafa Husain 

Nadia Karam 

Mirae Hanna 

Dina El-Zohairy 

Ahmad Al-Enezi 

Violla Bader 

Heba Gabr 

Naser Al-Shatti 

Zeina Al-Shatti 

Sarah Al-Qabandi 

Sherif Mohammed 

Manal Zeidan 

Jasmine Al-Jabi 

Rami Abdulsalam 

Nadeen Nour-Elddine 

Hadeel Al-Tunaib 

Daniya Alam 

Noura Al-Aleiwi 

Ali Abdulsalam 

Amna Akbar 

Sherif Abdelhalim 

Sara Al-Ajmi 

Youssif Al-Raqqas 

Abdulmohsen Al-Hashem 

Emad Salamah 

Mohammed Al-Zuhair 

Marahib Al-Sabah 

Shaima Al-Obaid 

Dalia Al-Mahmood 

Iman Anjum 

Yassmine Al-Rashdan 

Razan Sharaf 

Amal Tawakuli 

Hussa Al-Refaie 

Haya Al-Qassar 

Rowena Al-Mutawa 

Faek Al-Syriani 

Omar Al-Haider 

Abdulaziz Al-Mossalem 

Bedour Hamadah 

Wenayyan Al-Wenayyan 

Fahad Al-Kharafi 

Noha Abdallah 

Khadija Ahmed 

Alissar Shaanin 

Jackleen Shaanin 

Khalid Al-Shammaa 

Ali Al-Tukhaim 

Noura Al-Baijan 

Noura Al-Shaya 

Fatma Al-Fadhli 

Ahmed Dimachkie 

Shaza Abdelazim 

Shaikha Al-Khaldi 

Achoud Kyoumjian 

Sandra Aoun 

Reham Ibrahim 

Jenan Al-Wazzan 

Reem Shuhaibar 

Abdulrahman Al- 

Failakawi 

Shaha Al-Obaid 

Iman Zariwala 

Wael El-Ahmady 

Heba Rashwan 

Sabikah Al-Ayyoubi 

Dua’a Mansour 

Nada Al-Yahya 

Sarah Al-Mejreb 

Robert Mchardy 

Dalal Al-Mukaimi 

Abdelrahman Abuzaid 

Nuha Al-Fadli 

Nur Soliman 

Rana Emera 

Hind Al-Terkait 

Hind Nassar 

Taiba Al-Zaabi 

Mohammed Fakher 

Husham Hindi 

Ala’a Al-Habib 

Kawthar Jamal 

Farah Al-Shamali 

Khaled Ibrahim 

Balques Al-Radwan 

Taiba Al-Refai 

Anfal Al-Rashed 

Dana Abdal 

Reem Aloush 

Fahed Al-Rafidi 

Tahani Al-Soomali 

Amina Al-Kazemi 

Nivine Al-Ayash 

Hussa Al-Khaldi 

Hussain Taha 

Mariam Mairza 

Kawther Sadeq 

Maha Fathi 

Zakaria Al-Ansari 

Leen Taha 

Latifa Benessa 

Student’s names are presented against the backdrop of a selection of work shown at AUK’s Spring Art Exhibition, laid out by Sara Al-Farhan. 

New Academic Support Specialist 

We Have Moved 

Reem Al-Amin has joined the SSC to manage the peer tutoriing 

program at the AUK Study Center. Tutors are available 

Sunday through Thursday 10 am – 3 pm for ACCT, ARAB, 

ART, BEAL, BIOL, COMM, CSIS, DRAMA, ECON, ENGL, 

ENTR, FINC, FRNC, GDES, HIST, MATH, MGMT, PHYS, 

PSYC, SBSA (ANSO) & STAT. Come by A008 to receive indiv- 

.vidual attention and push yourself to academic excellence 

Office of the Registrar 

Announces 

:Working hours during Ramadan 

Sunday – Wednesday, 9:00am – 3:00pm 

and 

Thursday, 9:00pm – 12:00pm 

:Please keep in mind these important dates for the month of October 

Thursday the 11th of October – last day to withdraw from 1st Block Courses 

Sunday the 28th of October – online registration is open for 2nd Block Courses 

Please make sure to regularly check your AUK email accm 

count for updates on University events and on courses offm 

.fered in the semester 

The Student Success Center has moved to its new location on the 

!5th Floor of the Liberal Arts Building 

Hours of Operation: Sunday – Thursday, 8:00am – 4:00pm 

and 

)Monday, 4:00pm – 6:00pm (By Appointment Only 

:Remember, the Student Success Center is your home for 

Academic Support 

Probationary Students 

Early Warning 

Academic Advising 

Course Selection 

Registration 

Planning 

Declaring a Major 

Graduate School Education 

Personal Counseling 

Conflict Resolution 

Decision Making 

Healthy Student Living 

All Counseling is Confidential 

Career Counseling 

Internships and Externships 

Summer Employment 

Full-Time Employment 

Please, come visit us in our new location in 

!the Liberal Arts Building

The Family Just Keeps Growing: Welcome Class of 2011! A ... - AUK

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