The LAU MEPI TL Program Celebrates the Graduation of Students- Class 2020

In a festive and warm atmosphere, the LAU MEPI TL Program honored 12 TL Undergraduate seniors (TLU) through a virtual graduation ceremony celebrating their successful strides during their journey at LAU. 

The ceremony was spilled with emotions from beginning to end. From excitement to pride and fun coupled by teardrops, graduates went through a roller-coaster of emotions and were overwhelmed by the heartfelt messages they received from US Ambassador to Lebanon Ms. Dorothy Shea, LAU administrations, and LAU MEPI TL team.

To spice up the event, a short video about undergrads' journey was screened tracing the students' milestones and memorable moments throughout their four-year-academic journey at LAU.

TLU Graduation Cohort- Class 2020

TLU Graduation Short Video

TLU Graduation Celebration mood

Meet the Graduates

LAU MEPI TL Students Gather Over Townhall Meeting

On January 24, 2020, LAU MEPI TL students gathered in LAU Beirut Campus where they were kept up to date on important information about the program and had the chance to reinforce the goals and values of the program. Afterward, a Q&A session was opened to all students to hear real, honest, unfiltered feedback from them and clarify all their doubts. The meeting was wrapped up with a get-together dinner where program staff and students mingled in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Spring Semester 2020 Kick off

LAU MEPI TL Program launched Spring Semester 2020 through an interactive meeting in Byblos Campus where students got an outlook on the upcoming semester and the pre-planned schedule.

LAU lands a new MEPI TL Gender Scholars Program

The Lebanese American University has launched a new Tomorrow’s Leaders Gender Scholars Program (TLS), fully funded by MEPI.

The program aims to fortify existing networks in the gender studies curriculum and to foster a cross-disciplinary culture of gender mainstreaming in coursework among undergraduate students.

Due to the current dire economic situation in Lebanon, the MEPI TLS program targets currently enrolled, high academically achieving, Lebanese students on financial aid from all fields of study.

For many university students, the prospect of spending a semester abroad is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. LAU MEPI TL Program gathered students around a US Semester info session where a group of TL colleagues who recently returned from their study abroad experience testified to this truth and expanded on how it impacted them on many levels.   

Following the info session, a US semester pre-departure orientation session was organized for nine students who got their turn to study a whole semester in the US. During the orientation, students were briefed about the academic system in the US, the hosting universities, preparing for culture shock, strategizing for cultural adjustment, etc...

With the world engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic,  nine LAU MEPI TL students spent qualitative rather than quantitative time in their selected US institutions.

But that doesn’t mean students didn't learn about other cultures and experienced the enriching different aspects of studying abroad.

During their stay, the students had a better understanding of how they can be effective civic and business leaders, developed their skills to be able to compete in the workforce, and increased their awareness of gender issues globally.

Testimonials:

"This experience has taught me a lot about the history of Native Americans; it introduced me to one side of the States that I was not quite familiar with."   Zyad Al Azazi, Yemen, Computer Science, Host University: Virginia Commonwealth University

"My experience in the exchange semester in the US was one of the most life-changing experiences of my life. From my perspective, the defining part of the semester was getting to know the different people that live in the US and
participating in activities that connected me with others."                Zahra Abdulla, Bahrain, International Business, Host University: Virginia Commonwealth University

"...I had the best experience in terms of
the education I got, and I really found myself loving my major more..."                   Sarah Al Gharbi, Bahrain, Industrial Engineering, Host University:  The University of Arizona

" (My experience abroad) will impact every aspect of my life going forward, as it was a perspective-shifting experience. In the future, my professional and personal ways of conduct  will be different, thanks to the great deal of experience and growth I saw in the States."  Nawfel Belgasium, Libya,  Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University

"My experience in the US, although shorter than what I had wished for, was both insightful and transforming. I learned many things about myself and enhanced my skills" Rayan Abusrewil, Libya, Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University

Computer Science major, Jehad Oumer (Libya) participated in a think tank training session organized by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s MENA Leadership Academy in Tunisia. The four-day-training proposed to attendees new forms and formats of digital communication. 

When the Lebanese uprising surged in late October 2019, Leen el Harake (Lebanon) an LAU MEPI TL student in Architecture was observing the manifestation from the reconstruction and development angle and decided to express her thoughts and plans within this cadre through writing and mentoring.

Delving in a multinational community at LAU,  Salaam Halila (Tunisia) valued the importance of studying in a multicultural environment. However and throughout her academic journey and day to day connections with other Arab students, Halila noticed that Arab students live and breathe stereotypes when they come face to face with other Arab students. And those stereotypes are usually tinted with negative attributions. To that effect, Halila came up with a communication campaign “We Are More Than Stereotypes” whose main objective is to break cliched conceptions Arabs have on each other and help celebrate cultural differences instead.

Only a couple of months after Mohamad Rissal Hedna (Algeria) joined the MEPI TL Program at LAU, an unprecedented uprising has rocked Lebanon which led to schools and universities' closure for months. Few weeks after resuming classes, a complete lockdown was imposed on the country to combat the novel COVID-19. Given the circumstances, Rissal had to quickly adapt to remote learning. Rissal went far beyond completing his academic goals. He joined an innovation opportunity offered by LAU Innovation Center: Rissal and his team members participated in MIT Challenge Lebanon and scored second place through the start-up "Booster".

Taking a closer look at the COVID -19  crisis in his home country Syria, Oday Najjad (Syria) noticed that there is an overall lack of sufficient public awareness about the pandemic coupled with a significant lack of resources, and continued deterioration of humanitarian and socio-economic conditions across the country.  Consequently, Najjad established  "Swaida Medical Network", a platform that provides online consultation services to the community in Swaida.

Since COVID-19 began to spread throughout the African continent in March 2020, it seemed that the flood of fake news was, similar to the virus, also going viral. This increase of misinformation was often perpetuated by unreliable media platforms and presented a serious challenge for concerned citizens from every country. To that effect, Jehad Oumer (Libya), an LAU MEPI TL student majoring in Computer Science, helped in launching #DontGoViral, an awareness campaign initiated by i4Policy with the partnership of UNESCO. Jehad’s role was to volunteer his time and expertise in helping to build and manage an open Wikimediaplatform,   www.dontgoviral.wiki, a hub for all artistic-educative- based materials crowdsourced from artists across African local communities, focusing on fighting misinformation and share it to the public at large. 

Upon her graduation in Spring 2019, Ghufran Ashor (Libya), an LAU MEPI TL Alumna from Libya landed a role that matches her skills and aspirations; she joined the BBC’s international charity:  BBC Media Action (BBC MA) as business coordinator.  In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Ashor together with the Project Manager chose to expand their work scope and came up with a tool to raise awareness about the pandemic among Libyans.

Wafa Garbout (Tunisia) a MEPI TLG student from Tunisia majoring in Migration Studies challenged herself and completed two different 3-month internships in Tunisia and Lebanon amid tremendous challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Wafa successfully completed an internship with the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights in Tunis, where she was contributing to the work on the Migration Department at the Forum. During this internship, Wafa was actively working on developing her first research related to migration in Tunisia and Libya, which is estimated to be completed and published in late October 2020. Simultaneously, Wafa was also conducting another online internship with UN ESCWA in Beirut in the Migration Department, where she was actively involved in research on international migration and migration policies in the Arab Region.  During these two outstanding experiences, Wafa has developed and broadened-up her knowledge of migration in her home country, Tunisia, and the Arab Region as a whole. These experiences have shaped her and opened her eyes to the various migration-related  causes in her region and worldwide.

Photo by Julie Ricard on Unsplash

One graduate milestone has been Maguy Abdelahad's (Lebanon) Final Applied Economics Project titled ‘The Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis on Host Economies: Evidence from Lebanon’.  The project highlights the presence of an unprecedented number of Syrian refugees on the Lebanese territories that have attracted substantial political, economic, and media attention. Alarmingly, Lebanon ranks first in the world with its highest per capita concentration of refugees. Although Lebanon has long been known for its exceptional generosity in providing asylum to refugees, a comprehensive review of previous works has revealed the extent to which the literature on the Lebanese case is scant. Therefore, Maguy’s study contributes to the literature in this regard. Her study attempted to untangle the local macroeconomic impact of this massive displacement of refugees with respect to consumer prices, electricity consumption, tourist arrivals, and  Foreign Direct Investment. Findings possibly suggested the overstatement of the economic spillovers of displaced Syrians, particularly with regard to the studied macroeconomic indicators.

        During those critical times and amid the continuing unrest that her country has been experiencing, Abdelahad believes that it is of paramount importance that one assesses the aftermath of this refugee plight on an already fragile economy.  Abdelahad's  Applied Economics Project has provided her with an in-depth understanding of both, economic theory and applied quantitative methods. It has allowed her to obtain advanced practical experience and further her capacity in the field of economics. Abdelahad's choice of this particular topic for her Final M.A. Project has allowed her to better identify her interests and future goals.

In September 2020, Rasha Shalha (Lebanon), our MEPI TLG student majoring in Migration Studies started her internship at War Child Holland in Lebanon. As part of her MEPI TLG Field Works, Shalha conducted a training for the staff and partners, and she was the key person for the centers that are in partnership with the organization where she used to support facilitators, children, and caregivers and give awareness sessions and parenting skills sessions. Given her high level of commitment and professionalism, Shalha got a job offer from War Child as Child Protection Technical Officer, a position to fulfill  upon her graduation.  

After receiving a BS in Mathematics & Minor in Economics with High Distinction at LAU, Ghina Abdulbaki (Lebanon)  proved to be a potential leader, she applied for the MEPI TLG Program and got accepted. Two years later, Abdulbaki received an MA in Applied Economics with GPA 4.0/4.0 

Maintaining a high level of motivation and academic excellence over the years, Abdulbaki landed an opportunity for a full scholarship Ph.D. program at the University of Ottawa. This is a joint economics doctoral program offered by the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. Currently, her classes for the fall semester are offered online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once public health authorities permit, she will resume her classes on campus in Ottawa, Canada.

Throughout her academic years at LAU, Alya Humran (Yemen) a MEPI TLG student invested in her potentials through grabbing every opportunity that the MEPI TL Program offered her. 

In August 2020, Humran wrote an article for Al-Raida (The Pioneer), a semi peer-reviewed journal published by the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at LAU.  The journal's special issue was on Gender and Revolution. Humran's powerful article "Revolution is Female" has been chosen among the best-written articles by the jury and published in the Journal.

With the country's lockdown, the political instability, and the recent explosion in Beirut Port early August, summer 2020 couldn't be more challenging to Hayl Al Salehi (Yemen), an LAU MEPI TLG student majoring in International Affairs.  Given the challenging circumstances, Al Salehi knew how to turn tough times into big wins: He joined the Yemen Analysis Team at Mercy Corps where he was appointed to spend a three-month- internship. Moreover, Al Salehi attended an intensive accelerator program as part of ACIE Global Accelerator for two months. In addition to attending various national and international online workshops and webinars related to leadership, political science and International affairs.

 "I am glad to say that this Summer was one of the most productive summers I had"

says Al Salehi who always capitalizes on key opportunities to benefit from on both professional and personal levels.

Through LAU networking connections, Muna Saeed (Yemen) an LAU MEPI TLG Alumna was able to obtain an internship during COVID-19 with International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), while being quarantined at her university dorms room during her last few months as an MA graduate. Throughout this professional internship, Saeed was able to provide in-depth gender analysis of qualitative data collected by the ICMP as part of a report :

SYRIAN WOMEN: BREADWINNERS AND ADVOCATORS FOR THE RIGHT OF THE MISSING; A REPORT ON THE RESILIENCY AND ADAPTABILITY OF THE WOMEN OF THE FAMILIES OF THE MISSING

Along with her fellow co-author and supervisor, Saeed was able to study the changing nature of gender dynamics, roles, and responsibilities of the women; and the legal implications that come with their new social status as head of households. Saeed Co-authored, structured, and drafted the report – that is soon to be published- in English and supported in revising and proofreading the translated report in Arabic.