The recent explosion in Lebanon shook an entire nation — and indeed the region and the world — in every sense of the word. News@AUC spoke to faculty members in different disciplines to understand the repercussions of this calamity.

How and why did it happen?

Jamal Haidar, assistant professor of economics: A combination of endemic economic corruption, criminal negligence and professional incompetence played a part in this huge human and economic disaster.

Sarah El-Richani, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication: It is not yet definite what caused the blast, but it appears to be the result of corruption, negligence and mismanagement, which sadly are hallmarks of the political leadership in Lebanon. The blast was catastrophic, and people are rightfully demanding answers and, more importantly, justice. 

Why is the timing so bad?

Bahgat Korany, political science professor: The blast, which was approximately the equivalent of 1,200 tons of dynamite and was felt as a huge earthquake as far as Cyprus, came at a time when Lebanon was already going through a multiple crises complex. A few years ago, people protested the accumulation of street garbage and the incapacity of the government to deal with such a relatively simple problem. The protestors’ slogan against the governing elite was, “Your bad smell is widespread.” This garbage problem was just a reflection of a politico-economic crisis in Lebanon. Since October 2019, street protests have become more frequent, and the economy has continued to go down. Prices of basic food supplies, for example, went up by 150%, the Lebanese pound lost 80% of its value against the dollar, the country can’t pay its debt and the Lebanese people are deprived of electricity 21 hours per day. The protestors are identifying Lebanon’s political system as the culprit.

What are the immediate consequences?

Ibrahim Awad, professor of practice of global affairs and director of the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies: Lebanon is facing an extremely dire situation. Ports have been destroyed, food imports — which account for more than 80% of the country’s food needs — are affected, money is not coming in except most probably for remittances sent by Lebanese migrants to help sustain their families, and anger is widespread. 

Sean Lee, assistant professor of political science: The short-term and medium-term effects will be devastating. Already, Lebanon was suffering a severe economic crisis accompanied by hyperinflation, the rapid devaluation of the lira and a collapse of the banking sector that has all but wiped out most people’s savings. Many Lebanese were already finding it difficult to afford even the most basic staples, and this will only get worse because due to the artificial currency peg, which has now collapsed, the Lebanese economy relied on imports for almost everything. With the Beirut port all but destroyed along with its grain silos and what reserves were left and the port in Tripoli suffering from long-term neglect, we can expect to see food insecurity become more and more common in the country.

Lee: On the political side of things, over the last 15 years, I’ve never seen so much anger and rage in the country. A significant segment of the population sees the entire country’s political class as their enemy and are calling for the whole system to be destroyed.

What effect do you think the current protests will have on Lebanon? 

Lee: The political elites are not likely to give up their power easily. While the Lebanese state is nowhere to be found when it comes to providing the basic services necessary for its residents to survive, it has shown itself mostly through its coercive apparatus whenever the political elites feel threatened by popular mobilization. We saw it during the You Stink protests back in 2015-2016 and during the protests last fall, and we have already seen it after the explosion. The state was notably absent while Beirutis came out in their masses to help clean up after the explosion, but the security forces were out in force to tear gas and shoot protesters.

El-Richani: So far, and as a result of the palpable anger, Beirut port and customs officials have been detained. Intense protests are vital in ensuring that at least these port officials face justice. The political class who handpicked these officials to serve their interests may well sacrifice them to appease the protesters. Is this adequate? Absolutely not.

El-Richani: The outgoing prime minister who called for early elections has resigned with his cabinet. Again this will not appease the street, as this cabinet was in power for eight months whereas the ammonium nitrates have been at the port since 2013!

El-Richani: Prime Minister Diab’s cabinet will continue as a caretaker government until a new one is formed. This is no easy task, as a national consensus government would anger protesters and a neutral cabinet is also unlikely. However intense international pressure linking much-needed aid to reforms and the formation of a cabinet might do the trick. Talk of early elections is also not a panacea, as it is very unlikely that our parliamentarians would pass a fair electoral law that would harm their interests. Protesters are also ill-prepared to take on the well-oiled machines of these oligarchs, particularly in light of the crippling economic and financial crisis. 

What is the solution for Lebanon to recover?

Awad: Currently, people in Lebanon are divided. The communitarian and sectarian system is deeply entrenched. To me, the country needs a solid, well-organized and trans-sectarian political movement that recruits from all communities in Lebanon. Independent personalities from the different communities should form the nucleus of this movement. However, they should not be in the nucleus in representation of their communities. If each community protests on its own and has its own project for the future, this is not a solution.

Lee: Many Lebanese citizens see the state as irredeemably corrupt and so no longer trust it to handle any sort of influx of money for reconstruction or even humanitarian needs. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, there will need to be an influx of support and funds that bypass the state and go directly to grassroots organizations and institutions like the Lebanese Red Cross. This will be tricky to accomplish in a way that doesn’t flood the country with new dollars and further devalue the lira.

Korany: In the short term, the most immediate task is to get people out of their despair and start solving daily problems, such as caring for the wounded, especially that some of the hospitals have been destroyed by the blast; finding shelter for the 300,000 people who lost their homes; and rebuilding the port, which ushers 70% of Lebanon's needs. The most immediate way to recover is to deal with the economic problems

How can Lebanon recover economically?

Haidar: Lebanon now needs urgent foreign aid. But to avoid elite capture, knowing how to channel foreign aid is key. It is important to ensure transparent channels are in place to guarantee any foreign aid that goes to Lebanon ends up where it’s supposed to end and does what it’s supposed to do. Recent analysis showed that few firms captured development and reconstruction foreign funding over the last decade, suggesting insufficient transparency in public resource allocation processes. 

Korany: The percentage of the poor before the blast was 52% and is now increasing. It is important to mobilize international aid, but also to establish trust in the government by containing widespread corruption. Otherwise, as French President Emmanuel Macron said during his rush to visit Beirut, international aid is not guaranteed. Lebanon was negotiating with the International Monetary Fund before the explosion for $1 billion when it really needed $5 billion. Preliminary estimates of the country’s current external financing needs amount to $12-15 billion. While political reform is certainly the inescapable objective, achieving palpable economic results will take shorter time and help people regain hope.

What is the effect of this disaster on the region?

Korany: Beirut was traditionally called Paris of the Middle East, and Lebanon has been perceived as a model of political opening or democracy. Its model has failed, and Lebanon could now join the list of failed states such as Iraq, Syria, Libya or Yemen.

Korany: I was saddened by a petition signed by about 60,000 Lebanese people and sent to President Macron asking for a return of the French mandate after 77 years of gaining independence! This is an explicit demand for a return of colonialism in the Arab world — pure and simple. I hope that local governing elites will realize the seriousness of such views and do better to avoid pushing people to think that a return to colonial times could be the way out of their problems.

What’s next for Lebanon?

Haidar: Time is at a prime in Lebanon now. Donors are currently exploring possible ways to support the people of Lebanon. It is essential to overcome the lack of progress in the institutional and structural reform discussions, and focus on human and economic recovery.

Korany: Blast or no blast, the reform of Lebanon's feudalistic political system has to be the main objective. Given the complexity of the issues and the need for consensus among protesters, the elaboration of a workable political substitute to the present system will, unfortunately, take time.

Lee: In the long term, Lebanon’s political and economic systems have proven themselves resilient in the face of attempts at reform, so completely new systems are needed: ones that involve a real social contract and treat people as citizens rather than members of a sect.

Awad: Lebanon needs an integrated political system — not a coalition of leaders of different communities. It is obvious that this political system will have to be pluralistic and secular. Challenges may not be overcome immediately or in the short term. But with the ingenuity of the Lebanese people, they can be gradually addressed in the medium term. Nobody should think of a solution for Lebanon in terms of a zero-sum game. All political and social parties should be incentivized to create the integrated political system that equally and indiscriminately serves the interests of the entire Lebanese population and secludes it from undue regional and international interference. 

El-Richani: I am doubtful much-needed meaningful change is possible. Sadly, the “pessimism of the intellect” dominates, and I fear that the real perpetrators of this calamity — the political and sectarian cartel — will again dodge responsibility and safeguard their interests by twisting facts or even using force. The system is deeply entrenched, and the protests — though heartening and traverse sectarian lines — are yet to emerge as a unified force able to challenge the established zuama, or leaders. I hope I will be proven wrong. 

John Rodenbeck, professor emeritus of English and comparative literature, passed away recently at his home in France.

Rodenbeck joined AUC in 1964. "When I arrived in Egypt in 1964, I found that what I'd seen in films was in some abstract degree more or less true, but that in fact the reality was 10 times as exciting," reflected Rodenbeck in "The Road Taken" (Interview) published in Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics in 2006. "I was enormously gratified. What first brought me to Egypt, though, was what killed the cat: sheer curiosity." 

Rodenbeck continued teaching at AUC for more than three decades. In a 1990 interview with the Caravan student newspaper, he likened teaching to acting, which is one of his passions, saying: [Teaching[ is the idea of giving performance that is appealing." 

Rodenbeck's son, Max, who serves as the South Asia bureau chief at The Economist in New Delhi, reflected on his father as a professor of English and comparative literature: "As a professor, his interests ranged from English Romantics to Greek and Latin classics to European travel literature, particularly in the Middle East. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was also very active in the AUC theatre, often playing a leading role."

In a 2006 oral history interview with the Rare Books and Special Collections Library, Rodenbeck described English and comparative literature students at AUC as "extremely interested" and "highly motivated." 

In addition to teaching, Rodenbeck served as director of AUC Press from 1974 to 1983. Reflecting on that time, he noted in his oral history interview: "... What I had to do was to set up a policy that I thought would be suitable for a press here. And that is, first of all, that we should concentrate on Egypt and the Middle East, particularly Egypt, of course, but the Middle East next — which meant that we did not attempt to produce items in English literature, for example, or having to do with Western society. And the other thing I did was to try to get into something that ... had ... commercial possibilities. The 'Practical Guide to Cairo,' for instance, was was my invention. ... It's done quite well, gone through several editions. And that was the first sort of outreach in the direction of being commercial." 

Rodenbeck also started the tradition of publishing translations at AUC Press. "The program of publishing translations had been started by John Rodenbeck back in the '70s," said Neil Hewison, formerly on the AUC Press editorial staff in an oral history interview with AUC's Rare Books and Special Collections Library. "He had decided it was an important job to do, and I remember looking back in the files one day and finding a letter that John had written, I forget to whom, explaining how important he thought it was to publish translations of Mahfouz especially, because he said, 'One day, this man is going to get the Nobel Prize.' And he said this about 10 years before Mahfouz got the Nobel Prize. So he was very farsighted in that respect."   

Echoing the same sentiment, Max Rodenbeck noted, "t was a transformative period for what had been a tiny University printing press to a publishing operation. [John Rodenbeck] won AUC the English-language rights to all of Naguib Mahfouz's works, foreseeing that the novelist would gain much wider recognition. He also jointly translated one of Mahfouz's novels, Miramar."

Islamic architecture was another of Rodenbeck's interests. He founded the Society for the Preservation of the Architectural Resources of Egypt, which aimed to document and protect Cairo's rich architectural heritage. "He loved Egypt, but also loved the French countryside, and that is where he chose to retire," said his son Max. 

Rodenbeck is survived by his three children Judith, Max and Christina.

Here's what former colleagues and students had to say about John Rodenbeck: 

"John Rodenbeck was a charismatic figure with encyclopedic knowledge, a Renaissance man who captivated students and colleagues with his eloquence and critical insights when he taught for four decades in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at AUC. He impersonated the professor of English literature character in Youssef Chahine’s film, Alexandria…Why? (1979), capturing his very own classroom charm.

As director of AUC Press (1974-1983), he collaborated on translations of 1988 Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz and disseminated his novels in the 1970s and after. Rodenbeck wrote extensively on Egypt as a cultural critic, highlighting its literature, history, art, architecture and monuments. He translated Alexandrian poets — Cavafy and Ungaretti — and published extensively on 19th- and 20th-century English literature.

A man for all seasons, Rodenbeck felt at home in the world at large. He was particularly fond of travel. His wanderlust was depicted in his interview “The Road Taken” in Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics (2006) — a volume published in his honor on the occasion of becoming professor emeritus."

Ferial Ghazoul 
Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature
Editor, Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 

"It is with great distress that I received the news of John Rodenbeck’s death. From the beginning, the moment I read his letter of application and saw the photograph attached, I decided he would be a great addition to the department.

So elegantly did he present himself. I never for a moment regretted the immediate decision [of recruiting Rodenbeck]. He proved to be as brilliant as he was attractive. Time after time, students urged me to persuade him to stay on, as we will never find another to replace him. I was particularly pleased when they added, 'His only problem was that he almost never gives an “A.'"

My concern was that he would not wish to stay distant from the academic world. I needn’t have worried. He not only stayed — he stayed as himself, never lowering his standards and requiring the students to stretch theirs to the utmost. With all that, he was one of the most valued members of our department."

Doris Shoukri
Professor Emerita, Department of English and Comparative Literature

"He ... was a very unassuming person ... a walking encyclopedia. He knew everything: literature, Shakespearean period, the Middle Ages. He was a scholar. ... It was a delight and pleasure to see him, telling you parts, for example, of ... Hamlet or something from Romeo and Juliet or all those things, all those great dramas. ... I enjoyed dealing with him because he was a great mind, a great intellect, a scholar. ... I had several advisers when I was working on my thesis, but he's the one who I really ... wanted to deal with ... personally. I enjoyed his intelligence and his readings, and he guided me to what I should do .... and that I owe to him. It's John Rodenbeck. A great mind, a great intellect." 

Laurence Moftah (MA '79, MA '87)
Librarian Emerita, Rare Books and Special Collections Library
Oral history interview, Rare Books and Special Collections Library, 2014

"He used to not just talk to you about, for instance, a certain author. No, he'd give you the feel of the era and act it out and walk out of the room and come in again with a flourish. ... So he was ... really wonderful.He'd give you a history of the art in those days and the music and this and that."

Amina El-Lozy '67, '72
AUC Faculty Member (English language and writing), 1972 - 1992
Oral history interview, Rare Books and Special Collections Library, 2014

Photos courtesy of the University Archives

As I prepared to study abroad at AUC in the spring semester of 2008, my mind overflowed with anticipation and nerves. I was looking forward to living and studying in a Middle Eastern country, but I was worried that I would struggle to adapt to the different cultural and educational environment.

Yet my experiences turned out to be deeply rewarding on an intellectual and cultural level. On an intellectual level, I took AUC courses on Arab political and social thought, the history of the Middle East, and political economy, as well as Arabic language classes. In particular, the course on Arab political and social thought exposed me to rich intellectual traditions in the Arabic-speaking world I was previously unfamiliar with. This course piqued my interest in Islamic political philosophy, which I have maintained to this day; I actually taught al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd, two medieval Islamic philosophers, in one of my courses this past academic year. In addition, the political economy course consisted mostly of Egyptian students, which allowed me to exchange insights into politics and economics with peers from cultural backgrounds different than mine.

Such experiences provided one of the formative lessons I learned as a study-abroad student: All human beings share a common humanity, and they are also part of a great variety of distinctive cultural traditions. This lesson has immediate applications for my book on Burke, who was a British statesman-philosopher most famous for his criticism of the French Revolution (My book doesn’t touch on Egypt or the Middle East.). Burke believed that people around the world represented a rich diversity of inherited cultures and that imperial powers (such as the British Empire in his case) held the moral obligation to respect these cultures. As I was writing my book, I thought more about Burke’s perspective and how it related to my experiences at AUC. I think he was quite right: We should recognize the common humanity of different people, and we should also recognize the importance of cultural variety throughout the globe. I would not have sufficiently appreciated this insight if I had not studied at AUC.

This encounter with Egyptian and Middle Eastern culture, of course, provided many additional opportunities unavailable to me in the United States: haggling with Egyptian vendors; celebrating in the streets of Cairo after Egypt won the Africa Cup; eating koshari; visiting the pyramids, the Black and White Desert, Mount Sinai and Luxor; teaching English to Iraqi, Somali and Sudanese refugees (a particularly rewarding experience); and playing on the AUC basketball team and going to Athens, Greece for a tournament (unfortunately I tore my ACL in a game). Perhaps the most intellectually rich experience I had, however, was participating in an informal discussion club I organized with other AUC students — including Americans, Egyptians, Palestinians and other students — that would meet weekly at the Zamalek dormitories. We would talk about Middle Eastern politics and related issues. There were many differences of opinion, but we exchanged our ideas in a civil and respectful manner. I still participate in this discussion club to this day, including with American students I met during my time at AUC who have become lifelong friends.

Hope that provides a flavor of my AUC experience.

Gregory Martin Collins SAB '08

A postdoctoral associate and lecturer in the Program on Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University. His book on Edmund Burke’s economic thought, titled Commerce and Manners in Edmund Burke's Political Economy, was recently published by Cambridge University Press.

"It means the world to me receiving this award since my film will be streamed on multiple platforms for people all around the world to see," said Malak El Araby, a graduating senior majoring in film who is one of 10 winners of the Ladima Foundation African Women in the Time of COVID-19 Short Film Competition. 

Being, El Araby's film, is just under two minutes long and features snippets of her life before Egypt shut down due to COVID-19. For her, the film is meant to highlight the moments people might usually take for granted and tries to find a positive side to this situation. 

"Being was made with the purpose of finding a silver lining in midst of the hardships that we had to face during a global pandemic," she said." "My main goal was to make people feel and view this pandemic differently, to make people appreciate the little things in life, to be grateful for what we have, and to never take anything for granted anymore."

El Araby's film was shown across different platforms, and she received a EUR 500 award. For her and the other nine winners of the competition, this was an opportunity to express their perspectives on the pandemic and shed light on different personal, economic and societal issues facing women.

"I realized how the little things in life are what mattered the most," El Araby said. "I missed a lot of things that a person does on a daily basis, like walking down the streets freely and breathing fresh air, or just holding a loved one. I wanted people to appreciate what they have, so when all of this is over, we’d be grateful and appreciate the little things more then ever."

You can read El Araby's full interview with ANBA here.

AUC will be providing voluntary mentorship support for entrepreneurs as part of the Gemini Uplift initiative to support entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The initiative, launched by Gemini Enterprises Africa, aims to revive the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt and Africa during these difficult times through money, matchmaking and mentorship. Gemini focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Africa, and particularly projects focused on social dimensions. 

"In brief, AUC and Gemini signed an MOU early this year, aiming to work together on student initiatives that would support entrepreneurship, including competitions and activities that would involve AUC students, such as graduation projects and entrepreneurial mentoring activities," said Ahmed Tolba, associate provost for strategic enrollment managements and associate professor of marketing.

More than 30 institutions joined the initiative, and AUC's role focuses on providing mentoring resources primarily through faculty. This is a voluntary service by each faculty member.

AUC signed an MOU with Gemini a few months ago, whereby they could support the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, a project hosted in Tolba's office.

AUC’s Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Research and Innovation Initiative awarded funding to 10 different research projects that are aimed at creating an impact both during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic — contributing to the scholarship and innovation in the fight against it. In this series, we are highlighting each of the 10 projects to learn about what they are and what impact they will have on society.

Project 2: Coping in Egypt During the COVID-19 Crisis

Principal Investigator: Lameese Eldesouky, assistant professor, Department of Psychology 

Co-Principal Investigators: Kate Ellis, assistant professor, Department of Psychology; Zeinab Khadr, senior research scientist, Social Research Center

How It Began

When talking to her friends and family, Eldesouky took notice of the “vastly different” ways that people were coping with the COVID-19 crisis.

“Some people were in denial and wanted to act as though nothing had changed,” she said. “Others I knew turned to religion as a guide by increasing their prayers and trying to grow closer to God. Meanwhile, there were others who turned to distracting activities like TV just to make the time go by.”

For her, this grant was an opportunity to study what’s going on with how people are dealing with their emotions and reach a scientific conclusion. 

What It's All About

This project will identify the different ways that Egyptians are coping with the COVID-19 crisis and which strategies are most effective for long-term well-being. Some questions the project aims to answer are: What strategies are people currently using the most vs. the least? Which people are using certain types of strategies more or less? 

“For example,” Eldesouky said, “people who are more optimistic may be more prone to identify positive aspects of the situation as opposed to distract themselves.”

The Research Process

This project will be completed remotely and online. Gathering data involves: 

• Having participants complete a long, one-time survey asking demographic and personality questions. 
• Conducting experience sampling: having participants complete very brief surveys multiple times a day for two weeks, which will allow for data collection about people’s emotions over time.

Data collection is set to be completed this month. 

What's the Impact?

There are two main goals of this project: The first is to help create culturally sensitive public health recommendations that enhance people’s use of healthy coping strategies and decrease their use of unhealthy ones. The second is to make people more aware of how they are coping with the situation.

“Believe it or not, the average person does not think about their emotions and how they are dealing with them on a regular basis,” Eldesouky said.

Final Thoughts

“We are very excited about this study for several reasons. While it addresses a major current issue, it also helps bring Egypt to psychological research and vice versa. The field of psychology today is primarily represented by the West and select Asian countries. Furthermore, to our knowledge, this will be one of the first studies in Egypt and the Middle East more generally to use experience sampling. This is the novel method I described where people answer the same survey multiple times a day. It’s praised for its ability to capture what people do in real time and in real life outside of a laboratory setting,” Eldesouky said.

As part of their Packaging studio course last fall, graphic design students Amena ElDefrawy, Amanda Ioannou, Hania Gazar, Reem Hasebou, Salma Aly and Noor Sallam worked on envisioning new packaging solutions for the Gourmet brand while considering the environmental aspect and sustainability. The Gourmet team liked the student work, had the most creative group intern with the company last winter and is implementing some of the student designs across its branches.

“Part of our strategy as a design program is to reach out to existing key players in the market and introduce them to our students’ work either through direct studio involvement or as jury members on our senior graduation projects,” said Bahia Shehab (MA ’09), professor of practice of design and founder of the graphic design program. “We see this as a healthy collaboration for our students to be exposed to existing opportunities in the market. This interaction helps students understand their output not only from an academic framework, but also through a practical one.”

The students worked on Gourmet’s rebranding plan, including brand image, typefaces and visual elements.

They had multiple tasks in hand, including redesigning the packaging of old products such as the juice bottles and granola boxes, while also coming up with packages for new products, in addition to suggesting retail solutions, and interior and exterior branding,

"The students expressed their satisfaction with their contributions, which also help save the environment," noted Shehab. "We encouraged them to use more sustainable packaging materials, and they were very welcoming to that suggestion. They switched from plastic to cardboard in products where it was feasible and practical to do so.”

Each of the six students worked separately on different products, while also working in teams and supporting each other with ideas when needed.

"The super team of talented AUC interns did a fantastic and professional job, and Gourmet Egypt is nothing but proud of the quality of work they presented, " said Dalia Sultan, business development director of Gourmet Egypt. "Their passion for design and their creativity were greatly demonstrated in their work,, where they were able to deliver what's required as per the briefs they were given. .. Their work was actually materialized in our new line of packaging featured in our stores, which was loved and admired, not only by Gourmet Egypt's family, but also by our customers."

El Defrawy worked on reshaping Gourmet’s shopping experience by designing sustainable and eco-friendly shopping bags. She redesigned Gourmet’s paper, plastic and insulated bags, some of which are now being used in stores.

Ioannou worked on the lettering and overall printed design of the rotisserie packages. She also designed the Valentine’s Day packages and worked on their lettering “The packages were in all stores on Valentine’s Day 2020,” Ioannou said.

New logo design for the retail shops by Bassna Hassan

El Gazar, who designed Kahk El Eid boxes and Valentine’s Day social media posts, also worked on Gourmet’s collaboration with Kazyon for a new, healthier line. She designed package stickers, which had to be clear and legible with a simple copywriting.

“I chose green since it’s easier to understand that this is a cleaner line while still maintaining some orange accents from Kazyon’s branding direction,” she said.

El Gazar also worked on the rebranding of Goumet’s No Gluten line. “I went for a neon color to be eye-catchy to anyone with gluten intolerance, who often have difficulty finding products suitable for them.”

Sallam was asked to design five of Gourmet’s existing juice flavors, and the designs have actually been in Gourmet stores as of January 2020.

While Sallam was asked to design Gourmet’s savory bakery box packages, for which she custom-made the Arabic calligraphy, she also designed their truck to promote their existing mobile application.

“The first project I was asked to work on was the labeling of a new line of terracotta baked goods for Ramadan,” said Reem Hasebou.

Hasebou also worked on redesigning fava bean packaging for different recipes.She also redesigned stickers for the Gourmet’s soups.

Aly worked in the website department. She photographed, edited, retouched and resized more than 400 images. She also suggested website user interface design solutions and redesigned the food allergy and category icons.

“Overall, I believe that we as a team have proven how design has a major impact on the community, people, and environment,” said Aly. “Our goal was not only to be only consumer conscious, but also environmentally conscious. We achieved that by reducing current packaging material and shifting to more sustainable material, while maintaining the brand’s identity.”

“As an educational institution and a design program in the heart of the Arab world, we see a lot of potential for the creative industry to offer solutions that are at par with the offering of leaders in the global economy,” said Shehab. “We can only hope that our students will be going out to the world and creating the change that we all need.”

With Hani Henry, associate professor at the Department of Psychology and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, as the main speaker, AUC held the first Media Virtual Discussion, titled “Maintaining Mental Wellness during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic” on April 6. During the discussion, Henry shared advice on how to maintain mental wellness and reduce the anxiety and stress caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.

As millions in Egypt and the world are in self-isolation and with the constant stream of breaking news notifications, many are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Henry explained that when there is a global crisis of this magnitude, there must be a scientific evaluation of it.

"So we must ask ourselves what is affecting us most, and determine the type of feelings that we feel, is it fear? Fear of what? We must understand the nature of our reactions and feelings. Some people, as Henry said, feel deprived, for example, of their inability to go to mosques or churches.  Others feel deprived of their inability to see their parents. "So people must try to protect themselves and their nervous system by determining what affects them and what does not so that they can ignore the issues that are not relevant to them.” 

Henry also stressed the need to identify that there are things one can’t control. “The main problem that many people face is trying to control things that they can't control, such as anticipating what will happen tomorrow or the actions of others. So instead, they can control their attitude or the news they choose to read," he said.

Henry shared pieces of advice and several tips from The American Psychological Association to help control feelings of anxiety and stress during COVID-19, including:

- Reducing exposure to negative news since it may lead to an increased sense of panic. Staying informed but setting a limit to watching or reading stories about the development of COVID-19 to 30 minutes a day, for example.

- Continuing the daily routine, such as waking up at the same time, as well as maintaining boundaries between family and work life while working at home.

- Trying to discover new hobbies or working on the delayed tasks.

-  Choosing to pay attention to the value of the present moment and the value of health, for example, using “optimism bias”. For example, during self-isolation at home, many people now have the opportunity to spend better quality time with their children, which has not always been the case with the fast pace of life. 

- Trying to avoid negative people and reducing the sources of stress.

- Helping others and finding ways to give back to society.

- Recording video clips with family members to highlight how the family is overcoming the current crisis. Such techniques could give the person a degree of control and hope.

- Seeking help from others, from close friends or family members, or seeking psychological help through online cognitive behavioral therapy.

- Expressing and talking about feelings of anger or psychological pain because suppressing such feelings may lead to depression or increased mental illnesses, the effects of which may not appear now.

- Meditating through exercises on mobile applications or doing simple physical activities at home.

Henry also discussed the psychological pressures that many of the underprivileged labor force face daily. He believes that they have a different kind of perseverance, determination, and faith in their ability to overcome difficulties because they have always faced problems that many people of privilege haven't encountered. "So we can learn how they deal with their hardships and try to adopt simpler ways of looking at problems,” he said.

When dealing with children who are suffering from anxiety or stress, Henry believes that stressed-out parents can become wounded healers.

“The parents’ feelings allow them to resonate with their children. It is important that they acknowledge the children’s feelings and not underestimate them. Yet parents should also give them hope and encouragement and try to simplify the idea that the only constant in life is change.”

Henry also stressed the need for families to support each other in such difficult times and show appreciation to the women and mothers, who currently bear a lot of pressure at homes taking care of their families due to self-isolation at home.

As for the mental health of the workers in the medical sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, Henry said, "The heroic role of those working in the medical sector must be recognized. Currently, they are like soldiers in a state of war, and they won’t necessarily have time to consider their mental well-being. However, their mental health must be taken care of after the end of this crisis, as some of them might suffer from post-traumatic stress. He added that "we can currently continue to support and encourage them morally through initiatives that are taking place around the world, such as applauding them at seven in the evening from our homes and highlighting their heroic efforts."

For more information about the university news and events follow us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/aucegypt 

And Twitter @AUC

AUC has been reaffirmed for its national accreditation with the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE).

NAQAAE was founded to enhance the quality of education in Egypt by developing an integrated system to assure education quality. AUC was the first University in Egypt to receive the NAQAAE accreditation in 2010, with additional school- and department-level accreditation for the School of Sciences and Engineering and Department of Management within the School of Business. With this reaffirmation, AUC maintains its status as both a nationally accredited University as well as an American-accredited University with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

“Maintaining the MSCHE as well as the NAQAAE accreditation for years ensures that AUC is sustaining quality education and service based on Egyptian and international standards,” said Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman. “It validates our hard work, confirms to the public the validity of our programs and positively impacts the educational experience and future prospects of our students.”

The reaffirmation process was a rigorous self-assessment coordinated by the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness (SMIE), which was responsible for leading and facilitating the institutions accreditation efforts throughout the process.

“In higher education, institutional accreditation promises a standard of excellence,” attested Iman Megahed ’90, ’92, AUC's chief knowledge and strategy officer. “Accreditation is a transformative process for universities, as it supports the institution’s mission and allows it to provide students with the quality educational experience they deserve.”

An Accreditation Steering Committee -- co-chaired by Professor Ezzat Fahmy, construction engineering; Professor Basil Kamel, architecture; and Associate Professor Atta Gebril, applied linguistics -- worked diligently with a representative group of AUC faculty and staff members in developing the self-study report and providing evidence of AUC’s compliance with NAQAAE accreditation standards. This successful reaffirmation process was under the guidance and leadership of Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman in coordination with AUC Counselor Ashraf Hatem. The process concluded with a three-day visit to AUC’s campus by a committee of experts in higher education in order to observe AUC’s congruence with its self-study and meet with representatives from different constituents and stakeholders. The committee provided a thorough report, which included recommendations for areas within the University that can be further enhanced.

“The self-assessment process ensures, as we move into the future, that we continuously improve and advance the University,” explained Heba Fathelbab (MA ‘10), senior director of assessment and accreditation at the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness. “The reaffirmation of accreditation process is a lot of hard work, but it is an excellent way to ensure that AUC remains relevant and provides a unique educational experience for its students.”

AUC's faculty members have been hard at work trying to navigate the challenges that come with shifting to online instruction. News@AUC spoke to some faculty members to learn about their experiences so far and what they've been doing to adapt to the changes. Here's what they had to say: 

Carie Forden, professor, Department of Psychology

"I teach social psychology, which is very relevant to the current situation, as we are covering topics such as stress, conformity and group behavior. Instead of doing narrated PowerPoints, my husband and I are turning the course material into a podcast, complete with theme music, advertisements and recommendations. My husband is the host who is asking the questions, and I'm the expert guest. He's a good listener and very curious about things, so it works well. It's been a lot of fun. Last week's podcast on stress included a discussion of how to deal with the stress of coronavirus and quarantine and a commercial for meditating while washing your hands."

Tarek Selim '92, '95, professor, Department of Economics

"It was a bit frustrating in the beginning, but now, many faculty actually like it! The challenge for me, and I guess for the whole of AUC as an institution, will be fairness in the online grading system: how to make sure that the inputs received online are indeed the effort of the particular student being assessed and how to make online grading fair for all. This is a fundamental challenge and is an ethical issue and has accreditation requirements as well. Another challenge is the 'time to access' online materials for students if the server/cloud does not have enough capacity in peak times."

On the soft side of things, I received many comics relating AUC's online education to Egyptian cinema/ famous plays."

Rasha Abdulla '92, '96, professor and graduate director, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication:

"My first experience was really good. I taught the class live on Zoom, and a recording is also available online. Almost all the students 'showed up,' and we only had a couple missing. I think it went better than we all expected. The students were wonderful and very interactive. I had done my homework on all the little perks that Zoom has to offer. I used a PowerPoint presentation and shared it with them on the screen, paused to invite questions or comments every once in a while and asked their impressions at the beginning and at the end of the class. I think we were all pretty happy with the experience."

Michael Reimer, associate professor, Department of History 

"Yes, it has been a big challenge. The tasks involved seem endless, and I find it hard to lecture without a class in front of me. However, the positive aspect of online teaching is that I am in more frequent contact with some students who rarely participated in class discussion, but who are now are asking questions and participating in online discussions. Also, because I am setting smaller writing assignments rather than essay examinations, students write more frequently in response to the assigned readings, which I hope will stimulate their understanding of these texts. In the future, even in normal face-to-face instruction, I plan to continue to use online discussion forums to encourage the quieter students to participate."

Shahira Fahmy, professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

"So far, I've taught two online classes: one undergraduate class on Blackboard and the second class was on Zoom for graduate students. My graduate class on Zoom went really well. The students were engaged and very interactive that ironically it almost felt like we could communicate better with each other online than face-to-face.  My undergraduate class still needs some adjustments to get the students more involved and actively engaged in the learning process. I understand that students, and undergraduate students specifically, might feel anxious and apprehensive about the process. I want them to know that these feelings are normal. No one anticipated the current situation, but I think we will all learn from this experience and, in the end, hopefully find some joy in the process."

Hassan Azzazy, professor, Department of Chemistry

"A powerful feature of Panopto is that it enables students to easily locate any topic in a lecture and replay the relevant slides and voice. It also enables students to have permanent records of videotaped lectures. On the other hand, I have used a combination of Notepad and Screen Recorder on my cell phone (with a stylus) to hand write explanations of specific topics or solve exercises as I do on whiteboards in classrooms, then posted links to these videos on Blackboard." 

Adel El Adawy, assistant professor, Middle East Studies Center

"Online teaching was a new experience for me. I hadn't done it before so I didn't know how it will go, but I think after receiving training during spring break and having one week of experience, it went pretty well. I would say my classroom experience has not really changed from face-to-face teaching and now online teaching because most of my classes are very small — graduate seminars, graduate students — so I've decided to use the software Zoom, which actually really gives a very similar experience, as if you are sitting face-to-face in class. We’ll see how the rest of the semester will go, but I think, after one week, I am very satisfied and I think my students are as well."

Ayman Ismail '95, '97, associate professor, Department of Management

"I’ve done a lot of online teaching before, but moving a complete undergraduate course online is a new adventure. So far, it has worked out well. We are holding online discussion sessions using interactive tools, video cases and alternative assessment methods. Students are not only learning the course material, but also new ways of working together, innovating and collaborating."

Khaled Tarabieh, assistant professor, Department of Architecture

"I have been involved in online instruction at AUC during the past five years part of the ProGreen Diploma for Green Technologies where I, along with other professionals in Egypt and Lebanon, taught sustainable design and green technology. In the past two years, the AUC state-of-the-art communication technologies allowed us to engage in virtual teaching with the University of Arizona, creating virtual classrooms to teach Sustainable Architecture. This experience allowed me a smooth transition into fully online teaching in the past week. No challenges were observed except for the daily interaction with the campus community faculty, staff and students, all of which I miss deeply. Our successful transition to online learning shows how our investment over the past few years in infrastructure and online learning has paid off.  I truly believe this situation has been a test of resilience and sustainability of our institution of the future, a test we have fortunately passed with flying colors."

Michael Gibson, senior instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Composition

"Monday the class met on google hangouts. It was ok. Today I used Zoom. It went great.  I really like the online learning and am staying in touch through the week both on google hangout chat and email. I'm enjoying it. The only downside is not being physically together. Some of my students say they like it better because it's more comfortable, convenient, and efficient, and we're actually communicating more often (in various ways) and more thoroughly."