Intensive Training Program in Agricultural Development The Faculty of Agricultural Sciences is organizing an intensive package training program on project evaluation and agricultural development. This 4-week course is to begin on March 3, and is to be repeated on May 12. Additional courses will be offered annually as needed. The Dean of the Faculty, Professor James W. Cowan has explained that planners and administrators very often face the decision on how to spend scarce resources, i.e., land, water, labor and capital in realizing their development objectives. In its endeavor to update and expand knowledge in this field in Lebanon and the Arab World, the AUB Faculty of Agricultural Sciences has initiated this intensive program through its Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension Educa· tion and Rural Sociology. The coordinator of this program, Professor George S. Chrysomilides has pOinted out that the anticipated small size of each class, 5-10 persons, will give participants the opportunity to establish a frank working relationship with their instructors and intimate themselves to the course. The course includes three lecturing hours and two hours of work~hop per day. Lessons are to be given in English, and participants should have a B.S. or B.Sc. in agriculture, economics or related fields.
Distinguished AUB Friend
The University is saddened to announce the death in the United States of Dr. Samuel E. White, a long-standing friend of the University and generous contributor to the AUB scholarship program. Since 1961 «White» scholarships have assisted many gen(!rations of students at AUB to complete their University education. While not a graduate of AUB, Dr. White who was a life-long student of Middle East history had great love for his native land, Lebanon, and for education. From the village of Garzuze he first went with his parents to America in 1909 (the family name was then Waheed). He graduated with a degree in dentistry (DDS) from the Atlanta-Southern Dental College in 1914 and launched his career in dentistry in Port Arthur, Texas. Dr. White was a life member of the American Dental Association and for 57 vears a member of the Masonic Lodge. During the course of his distinguished career he made six visits to Lebanon, most recently in August 1973 at which time he visited the AUB Medical Center and met with a number of student recipients of «White» scholarships. Dr. and Mrs. White also met with AUB officials and friends at a reception in their honor at Marquand House. Having already contributed over $75,000 for student aid, Dr. White in March 1973 established a special trust leaving his estate to the American University of Beirut to continue. his AUB scholarship program. Dr. White is survived by his wife, formerly teacher in the Port Arthur school system, and most recently of Colorado Springs, Colorado where the Whiles lived in retirement.
Course in Control of Resources and Finance in Construction
295 Man- Years of Service
picture H. R a n d F. Haddad (Business Services), John Saba (President of AUB Workers and Staff Syndicate), Alfred Haik (Purchasing), and George Sayegh (Director
of
Personnel).
The Office of Business Services recently held a party in the Faculty Lounge to present service awards to 15 AUB employees: Messrs. Sayigh Sayigh and Boulus Mubarak (each one 30 years of service-both will be awarded watches at a later ceremony), Ali Kakour, Tanios Suleiman,
Shukri Chidiac, Boulos Hilu, Najm Naufal, Adib Skeini, JamiJ Uthman, Shukralla Attalah, Muhammad Hammoud, Ibrahim Rida (20), Francis Saqr (15), Mundhir Mundhir and Karam Hajj-Hussein (10), a total of 295 years of service.
Ameen Rihani Memorial Lectures in English Literature The Department of English, in conjunction with the Lebanese University and the Arab University, is presenting this year's Ameen Rihani Lectures in English Literature in commemoration of Ameen Rihani's Centenary in 1976. These lectures will include subjects of particular interest to contemporary students and readers of English literature and will represent an unique effort to present interesting points of research to an Arabic-speaking public. This will be the first time that a concentrated series of lectures on Engli~h literature has been offered in Arabic to the general public in the Beirut area. Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) was a native Lebanese who achieved fame as a writer in both English and his native Arabic. This lecture series follows Rihani's example by presenting English literature as a cross-cultural experience to an Arabic-speaking public. The first lecture, entitled «Lebanese Writing in English», was given yesterday by Professor Suheil B. Bushrui, Chairman of the AUB Department of English who spoke of the characteristics of Lebanese-American literature during the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth century. centering on the English works of Khalil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy. and Ameen Rihani. These works were examined both in their own right, and also as documents reflecting the authors' respon:1es to the immediate artistic and cultural problems they faced in both America and the Arab world. Professor Bushrui emphaSized the Lebanese heritage of these authors and spoke of the contribution each has made to American cultural life. He also examined their position in modern Arabic literature and their influences on other writers at home and abroad. The remaining six lectures are scheduled to be given on Wednesdays, 7:30 pm, in West Hall, as follows: February 12: Y. Daghistani: Realism
The Director General of Roads and Buildings at the Ministry of Public Works, Mr. Antoine Rayyis opened early this month the short post-degree course in the «Control· of Resources and Finance in Construction» which was held at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture on campus. In his opening address Mr. Rayyis welcomed participants and wished them all success, and hoped more such engineering courses would be held to benefit progress and development. He pOinted out that Lebanon, though small in area; is big in the services it offers in education and creativeness. Six professors from the UK and three AUB professors lectured at this short full-time course which was attended by forty-six men and women engineers from eleven Arab countries and from Iran, and twelve Lebanese engineers. A two-hour panel on the future of construction in the Middle East grouped, on Opening day, Mr. Shukri Shammas (CAT) and Mr. Hassib Sabbagh of Consolidated Contractors Company (Ccq who both expressed the views of contractors, and Dr. Khalil Ma louf, former Chairman of the Order of Engineers, and Dr. Kamal AI~Sha'er. founder of Dar-alHandassah who gave the views of consultant engineers. The course was organized by Professor Nicolas Manasseh of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, in cooperation with the Overseas Development Administration of the British Embassy in Beirut. It was directed by Professor Roger Burgess of the University of Salford, J::ngland.
Alumnus AppOinted Director General of Chamber of Commerce and Industry
in the English Novel.
March 12: S. Gamal: «Body and Soul»: Literature and Language.
April 9: S. Nassar: Oscar Wilde: Into the Dream Universe. May 14: A. Bulous: The Art of the Short-story Today.
May 28: R. Nourallah: Escape in Victorian Poetry. June 4: G. Maleh: Rogue Literature.
Panel Discussion The Department of Mathematics held last week in West Hall Lecture Room a panel discussion on Desirable and Feasible Directions for Mathematical Sciences in Lebanon and the Arab World.
The panel consisted of Professors Wasfi Hijab (Moderator), Azmi Hanna, Mary Regier (all three of the Department of Mathematics), Rafik Eido (Centre d'Etudes MatMmatiques and Secretary General of the Lebanese Association for the Advancement of
Science LAAS), Zuhair Nashed (Department of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology), Walid AISalam (Department of Mathematics, University of Alberta)~ and Abdullah Sfeir (Department of Mechanical Engineering, AUB). The panelists talked in turn· of mathematics teaching in education, and directions and development of mathematical sciences abroad and in the Arab world. More than fifty persons attended.
Address To:
Director of Information and Responsible Editor: Redwan Mawlawi. Editor : George Salhab.
The appointment of Dr. Walid Rafic Naja as Director General of the Beirut Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been widely reported in the press. Papers mentioned that Dr. Naja received his B.~. Economics from AUB in 1962, and later left for the US where he obtained his M.A. Economics from Yale University, 1963, and Ph.D. in International Relations, 1969, from the American University, Washington, D.C.