campus report-october 2011
TRANSCRIPT
8/3/2019 Campus Report-October 2011
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In a comprehensive presentation on
an array o topics, Chancellor Peter
Heath reported on the state o the
university at the Faculty Assembly
held September 18.
He discussed the various strategic,
academic, admission and inancial
aspects o the university in detail.He said several actors, such as
the student body, quality, tuition,
as well as inancial grants, were
growing gradually as envisaged.
The Chancellor also mentioned
other important areas, including a
growing aculty and sta size that
he said was commensurate with
the student body size, as well as
increasing aculty research support
and productivity.
Chancellor Heath discussed the
implementation of strategic
initiatives as well as the budget
distribution. He told the audience
that the AUS School is expected to
open in 2014.
He also shared with the aculty
igures depicting the increase
in graduate and undergraduate
headcounts, alumni, aculty and sta
as well as breakdown o student
enrollment in majors by college/
school.
AUS CAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah Issue 65, October 2011
Chancellor's highlights AUS Chancellor discusses state of the university at Faculty Assembly
Most o the new students joining
AUS this semester belong to the
top 20 percent o their high school
class, with their average high
school scores as a group being
about 92 percent. This was stated
by AUS Chancellor Dr. Peter Heath
at a welcome session held or new
students and their parents at the
AUS Main Auditorium on Friday,
September 9.He said that around 50 percent o
the total number o AUS students
are rom Arab nations, 20 percent
rom the UAE, 13 percent rom
South Asia, 4 percent rom Iran and
13 percent rom elsewhere.
“The most important thing that
you can learn here is how to think
clearly; how to analyze logically;
how to communicate clearly; and
how to be creative in inding
solutions or the problems that
you ace,” Chancellor Heath said,addressing the students.
Dr. Thomas Hochstettler, Provost,
added that reshmen will also be
given assistance by the Oice o
Development and Alumni Aairs to
help start their careers. “You cannot
start early enough in planning or
your lie ater AUS. Career Services
will assist you, in conjunction with
your academic departments, in
locating internships when thattime comes. It will provide training
in the skills you may need to ind
employment, such as how to write
your resume or practice interviewing
or jobs,” he said.
1,200 new students join AUSSay it with a card!Do you know someone who always
goes out o his or her way to
serve you better and ensures that
your day goes smoothly? Faculty
and sta can now show their
appreciation with a thank you card.
How it works:• The thank you cards willbe distributed to eachdepartment, or sta membersto give other colleagues acrosscampus who oered greatcustomer service.
• Beore the next issue oCampus Report , communitymembers will submit theirthank you cards received romothers to Aida Ali, StrategicCommunications and Media
Department, M-256.• The person with the highest
number o cards will beeatured in the next issue oCampus Report .
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CAADEnrollment CASEnrollment SBMEnrollment CENEnrollment
EnrollmentinMajorsbyCollege/School
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Issue 65, October 20112 AUSCAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah
New professionaldevelopmentcourses offeredFor the first time at AUS, all staff are
eligible to enroll in the InternationalComputer Driving Licence (ICDL)
course, also known as the European
Computer Driving Licence (ECDL).
The course enables you to develop
your skills in computer usage
through seven modules: information
technology concepts, computer
usage and file management,
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Outlook and Access.
“I encourage all employees toattend at least three training
sessions per year, as it will enable
you to enhance your skills and
productivity,” said Rasha Elsaid,
Human Resources Manager
in charge o training and
development. And which is the most
important course in her opinion?
“Customer Service, because
everybody at AUS serves some sort
o customer,” said Rasha.
Training or the ICDL is two-and-a-
hal hours daily, or a total o seven
weeks. Each o the seven modules
must be passed in order to receive
the certiicate.
Various shorter “sot skills” coursesare also available, such as Customer
Service, Communication, Creative
Problem Thinking and Decision
Making. Sta at a supervisory
or managerial level can also
choose courses in interviewing
and motivation skills. Participants
will receive a certiicate upon
successully completing the course.
Average class sizes or these courses
ranges rom 16 to 20.
For more information about the
training programs on offer, secure
permission from your department
manager and send an email to Rasha
Elsaid ([email protected]).
I encourage all employees
to attend at least three
training sessions per year...
Have you seen our newwebsite?
Ater many months o planning, the new AUS website launched on
September 18.The new website provides a platorm that showcases the university’s
academic excellence and its diverse campus lie, as well as strengthens
our online presence internationally. For this purpose, the layout has
completely been redeined to support our strategic initiatives and serve
the needs o our potential and existing students, their amilies, our
alumni, our partners and sponsors.
The website is a continuously evolving part of our communications. We
hope that you enjoy the new layout, keeping in mind that this is an
ongoing project, which we will continue improving in the next few months.
Below are some o the comments that we received through social media.
"Great work! Slick,modern andI love the photography!"
"Looks great! Congrats."
"Great job guys! I miss
those old days."
"Finally! welcome tothe 21st century!"
"About time! GreatLook!!"
"Mabrook! The new sitelooks terrifc & is very well
organized."
"AUS ♥ ♥............♥♥"
"Finally u launched it!congrats!
Like the new look!"
What people think of our new website
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Issue 65, October 20113 AUSCAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah
Dr. Cleve McDaniel joined AUS as
its new Vice Chancellor or Finance
and Administration this semester.
Campus Report met with him in his
oice or a quick interview. Below is
an excerpt.
CR: Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a US citizen, and have lived there
all o my lie. I grew up in a small
mining town not ar rom St. Louis,
Missouri. I went to undergraduate
school at Washington University in
St. Louis, then got a master’s degree
at Southern Illinois University. I got
my doctorate at the University o
Missouri, Columbia, while I was
working at Lincoln University in
Missouri. I’ve consulted outside theUS but have never worked outside.
CR: Tell us a little about your career.
I’ve been working in the ield o
higher education or 28 years. In
the US, I have worked in several
university positions as the senior
inance and administrative
oicer. All o my jobs have been
challenging. My last position as
Senior Vice President at the Desert
Research Institute was ascinating, as
this institute conducts environmental
research all over the world—it
works on ive continents, including
Antarctica.
CR: What attracted you to AUS?
One o the things that attracted
me to AUS is the multiculturalenvironment. I’m really excited
about the international community
on campus, and am delighted to be
here in the Middle East.
CR: What is your average workingday like?
My working days are typically
very long— there’s a lot o
multitasking and working with
sta in a supporting and mentoring
relationship. I enjoy working withpeople rom dierent nationalities
and am very team oriented. My
communication style can be summed
up as open and honest.
CR: What plans do you have for AUS?
With an autocratic approach, you
tend to hold things close to your
chest. That’s not my aim—I’m
looking or ways to enhance
the transparency o our existingoperations with an ever-increasing
alignment with the university
mission. I’m also very customer-
service oriented. I’m looking
orward to my time here, working
with the Chancellor, the Provost,
the other vice chancellors and vice
provosts, and with all the aculty
and sta. I look orward to making
a contribution and to help make a
very good university even better.CR: There’s a lot of talk these daysabout telecommuting, home officesand the like. What would you thinkof them being applied at AUS?
We are always looking or ways
to enhance the use o technology.
However, in order to provide great
customer service, it works better
when people are on campus. As
many sta and aculty live on
campus, and with the sta able totake advantage o lexi-timings,
there is always a lot o built-in
communication. I think that we’re
already a step ahead o other
universities in this regard.
CR: Do you have any hobbies?
To relax, I like to hike. I have hiked
in the oothills in Austria and havealso done some climbing. I used to
play keyboard and trumpet and once
got to play with Doc Severinsen,
who was amous or leading the
NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson. I also enjoy
doing yoga, workouts and other
exercises.
Making a good university even better
Library searchesenhancedSummon is a new discovery tool
that lets you search the AUS
Library’s physical and digital
collections in just one step. Using
a single search index, Summon
includes all items in the library’s
collection including ull-text books
and articles, with the resultsranked in a single list according to
relevance.
“Summon was selected after an
extensive evaluation process.
The objective of this new
implementation is to have a single
search interface that will make
finding library resources easy and
simple,” said Daphne Flanagan,
Interim University Librarian.
Many users will find that Summon
points them to all the information
they need. Other researchers will
want to dig deeper or use search
tools not available in Summon.
Specialized databases and the
Classic Catalog will still remain
available.
For more inormation, eedback or
comment, contact
The objective of this new
implementation is to have
a single search interface.
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Issue 65, October 20114 AUSCAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah
Faculty exchangeoffered in US andUK Are you a aculty member wishing
to spend a semester or two
teaching abroad? You now have the
opportunity, thanks to the Oice o
International Exchange Programs at
AUS. Two programs will be oered
over the course o the next year:
Louisiana State University (LSU),
USA, and Al-Maktoum Institute or
Arabic and Islamic Studies, Scotland,
UK.
“These programs are both great
opportunities to improve your
research and teaching experience.
The Oice o International Exchange
continues to ocus on developing
opportunities or aculty and sta,”
said Linda Angell, Director o the
Oice o International Exchange
Programs.
Faculty interested in going to LSU
can either go as a visiting proessor,
a research scholar, a visiting lecturer
or a consultant. Those applying to
Al- Maktoum Institute or Arabic
and Islamic Studies can go on a
proessional visit or as a visiting
proessor.
Travel expenses and accommodation
are the responsibility of the faculty
members unless otherwise agreed.
The oer is limited to aculty
only and does not extend to
spouses or dependents. Expenses
o accompanying spouses or
dependents are the responsibility o
the aculty member.
If you are interested in participating
in these programs, please visit
the Office International ExchangePrograms on the ground floor of
the AUS Main Building, email Linda
Angell at [email protected] or call
extension 4027.
From hosting a major exhibition
to helping organize a lecture, the
Events Management Department
at AUS assists the university in
the planning, coordination and
implementation o events.
Touic Saii
was recently
appointed as
director o the
department.
The department is involved in the
organization o various types o
events such as conerences, MOU
signings, cultural events, award
ceremonies and others.
Although the department will act
as the mediator between various
departments as well as suppliers,
the responsibility
or delivering the
event remains with
the event organizer.
For more
inormation, contact Touic Saii
at [email protected] or call extension
2326.
Are you a faculty member
wishing to spend a semester
or two teaching abroad?
AUS now has a new Strategic
Communications and Media
Department under the guidance
o Miriam Kiwan. The Strategic
Communications and Media
Department’s mandate now
relects the ocus on aligning
the AUS brand’s awareness and
communications.
“Our department aims to urther
strengthen the university’s
brand image and positioning
within the MENA region while
improving internal and externalcommunication,” said Kiwan.
“The department also acts as a
brand guardian and advises on all
communication processes within
AUS, while aligning the strategic
communications messages with
the university’s overall objectives,”
she added. “AUS’s presence in
online and print media is key to
supporting our initiatives and
improving our brand awareness
regionally and internationally,” she
added.
This year, Gradom.com, a UAE-
based digital media agency, ranked
AUS irst in the education sector inits Social Media Report o Top 100
Brands, in terms o presence on
social networks such as Facebook
and Twitter, and the video sharing
website YouTube.
To contact the department, email
Strengthening the AUSBrand
Our department aims to
further strengthen the
university’s brand image.
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From hosting a major
exhibition to helping
organize a lecture
Events Management Departmentassists the community
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Issue 65, October 20115 AUSCAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah
Set or launch next year and
comprising a total area o 934
square meters, the AUS Youth
Center will provide children and
youth o all aculty and sta with
recreational activities during
weekends and ater-school hours.
The center aims to have something
or everyone, rom toddlers to
teenagers, with the indoor area
being equipped with the ollowingacilities:
•homework/studyarea
•kitchenarea
•artsandcraftsarea
•loungearea
•dramaandmusicarea
•computer/TV/gameroom
•climbingwall
“I am very excited to see the
Youth Center coming together.
It will enrich the lives o AUS
children and help them to develop
into healthy and well-rounded
adults,” said Marianne Heath,
ormer chair o the Residential LieCommittee who spearheaded the
project with George DeBin, ormer
Vice Chancellor o Finance and
Administration, and Lee Mitchell,
Director o the Wellness Center. “We
all look orward to the building
being inished and to opening the
doors to our campus youth,” sheadded.
As skateboarding and rollerblading
have been popular activities or
on-campus youth or a long time,
the center has been designed with
matching acilities in mind. The
center looks out onto an outdoor
skate park eaturing ramps, rails and
hal pipes.
“It’s going to be pretty amazing
having a skate park on campus.
It’s going to open up a world o
opportunities,” said Mohammed
Khalla, a high school student living
on campus.
The center is currently planned to be
largely sel-running, with the older
youths being given the opportunity
to supervise their peers. Additionally,
sta appointed to run the center
will be ully irst aid certiied. Therewill also be ample opportunities
or residents who are interested in
running activities at the center or
just generally helping out.
Youth Center construction underway
Meaningul, concise surveys enable
real change to be enacted on
campus. And that is just one o theways that, with your help, AUS is
able to develop.
In May, Dr. Cindy Dutschke joined
AUS as Director o the Oice o
Institutional Eectiveness and
Planning. She worked or 13 years
as Assistant Vice President or
Institutional Studies at Texas A&M
University.
Her mission at AUS is to ensure that
the university continues to ulill itsobjectives eectively in regards to
accreditation, strategic planning and
assessment. As part o the planning
and assessment cycle, each academic
program and administrative unit will
be charged with creating its own
Annual Institutional Eectiveness
Plan.In the all o each year, a plan
will be developed that contains a
mission, goals, outcomes and/or
objectives, means o assessing those
outcomes, as well as the criteria that
will determine success.
During the year this plan will be
implemented and assessed to make
changes in the academic programs
or administrative unit.
What other services does the
oice oer? “Some surveys being
developed include those on sta
satisaction, aculty satisaction,
early leaver rates and others that
will gather opinions about the
level o service oered by dierent
administrative units,” said AhmedAboubaker, Associate Director o
the Oice.
All surveys are strictly conidential
and the inormation gathered
allows the department to analyze
trends. The results rom any survey,
including ones with spaces or
respondents to type in additional
remarks, will not be traced back.
In addition, the oice provides
consulting services to aculty and
sta members.
If you would like more information
about the services, please email Flora
Guirguis at [email protected].
More than filling in surveys
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Issue 65, October 20116 AUSCAMPUS REPORT
The Internal Quarterly Newsletter o American University o Sharjah
60 seconds withWalid Daallah, HumanResources Ofcer
Home: Khartoum,Sudan
Family: Wie and ten-month-old son
What was your frst job? MarketingSpecialist
What was your worst job? Socialworker in Sudan
What job did you want to do as akid? Be a amous pianist
What do you enjoy most aboutworking at AUS? Seeing AUS movetoward urther success and to beinvolved in its growth
What is your best advice orsuccess in the workplace? Teamwork and coordination with otherdepartments
I couldn’t do my job without: Proessional management
What is your avorite ood?
JapaneseWhat’s your ideal holiday spot?Venice
What’s the best place to visit inyour home country? The Sudancountryside because o its pace o lieand greenery
With what amous person, livingor dead, would you like to havedinner? Barack Obama
What are some o your hobbies?Playing the piano, pool and tabletennis
Last book read: A People’s History of
the United States by Howard Zinn
Last movie watched: The Debt
Favorite pastime: Gol
Favorite place in the UAE (orMiddle East): Musandam in Oman
I you could go back in time, whatperiod would you choose and why? I would go back 20 years and studybusiness administration instead o IT
I you could change one thing atAUS, what would it be? Add sheltersbetween all o the buildings
What is your avorite song? "My
Heart Will Go On" by Celine DionWhat would you like yourtombstone to read? Nothing isimpossible
To submit news or to make inquiries, please contact Farid Alvie (ext. 2210, [email protected]). Campus Report is published by the Strategic Communications and Media Department.
We’d love to hear from you!We are always looking or interesting news content or our next issue.I you have a story o interest to AUS aculty and sta or just generalcomments and suggestions, don’t hesitate to contact [email protected].
Walk more to keep healthy
During the academic year, members
o the campus community can
take part in un runs and walks
organized by the Wellness
Department. Each month has a
dierent theme, such as road
saety or having a healthy heart.
“This semester the Wellness
Program will be challenging
members o the AUS community,
to really push themselves,” said
Lee Mitchell, Director o Wellness.
“Many people walk 6,000 or so
steps per day, and that’s great. But
by walking 10,000 steps, you’re
more likely to get the beneits
o losing weight, lowering blood
pressure and strengthening the
bones. Taking walks or leisure can
also improve your state o mind,
give you more time with your
amily and help you relax,” he
added.
Here are some suggestions to help
you reach this target:
•Takethestairsinsteadofthe
elevator.
•Ifyouliveoncampus,walkto
work.
•Ifyouliveoffcampus,parkyourcar as ar away as possible.
•Duringyourleisuretime,stay
active and take a walk with
amily or riends.
•Leavethecarkeyintheoffice
and walk to your exercise classes.
The next un run/walk is set or
Saturday, October 22 at 5:45 p.m.,
starting rom the Airport Road
entrance o AUS.
To see a list o upcoming Wellnessevents please visit www.aus.edu/
wellness.
For more inormation, please
contact Lee Mitchell at lmitchell@
aus.edu or extension 2240.