ANNUAL REPORTS OF SENATE COMMITTEES AND BOARDS

FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2014-15

1. Senate Admissions Committee

2. Board of Graduate Studies

3. University Disciplinary Committee

4. Library Committee

5. University Publications Committee

6. University Committee on Student Affairs

7. Academic Development Committee

8. Senate Steering Committee

9. Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs

University Research Board

Report to follow

chair: Farid Chaaban

chair: Ibrahim Osman

chair: Patrick McGreevy

chair: Ghassan Matar

chair: Bashshar Haydar

chair: Hassan Artail

chair: Wafic Sabra

chair: Dima Jamali

chair: Elie Shammas

chair: Muhamad Harajli

American University of Beirut Senate Admissions Committee

Annual Report for the Academic Year 2014-15 Committee Members

Chairperson: Professor Farid Chaaban

Elected members: o Assoc. Prof. Antoine Ghauch (FAS) o Asst. Prof. Walid Faraj (FM) o Asst. Prof. Mohammad Abiad (FAFS) o Assoc. Prof. Rima Habib (FHS) o Asst. Prof. Bettina Bastian (OSB) o Student Representatives: Ms. Fawzia Osman, and Mr. Charbel

Abboud.

Ex-Officio members: o Associate Provost Nesreen Ghaddar o Director of Admissions Prof. Salim Kanaan o Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

(OIRA) Prof. Karma El-Hassan o Chairs of Faculty Admissions Committees

The Senate Admissions Committee discussed and approved 2 proposals that were received from the Sophomore Admissions and Freshman Admissions committees. In what follows is a brief listing of these proposals:

Approving the request from FEA Dean , Prof. Suidan, referred to us through Dr. Hala Muhtasib. The request is to consider raising the SAT requirements for early admissions to FEA from 1250 to 1300.

Approving the request from the Biology department to raise the SAT requirement from 1250 to 1300, for the same reason like the FEA request approved before 2 weeks.

Farid Chaaban Chair, Senate Admissions cte.

Bliss Street; P0.Box: 110236; Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107-2020; Beirut, Lebanon. Secretary: +961 1 352700;

Office:+961 1 35000 Ext 3953; Fax: +961 1 750 214; Email: Ibrahim.Osman@aub.edu.lb, Page- 1

To: Professor Fadlo Khuri (President of the Senate)

From GBS Members: Professors Ahmad Dallal <adallal@aub.edu.lb>; Moueen Salameh

<msalameh@aub.edu.lb>; Rabih Talhouk rtalhouk@aub.edu.lb; Amy Alice Zenger

<az07@aub.edu.lb>; Karim Makdisi <km18@aub.edu.lb>; Mounib Eid <meid@aub.edu.lb>;

Antoine Abu-Musa <aa06@aub.edu.lb>; Nuhad Yazbik-Dumit <ny00@aub.edu.lb>; George

Saad <gs31@aub.edu.lb>; Bacel Maddah <bm05@aub.edu.lb>; Mohamad Ghassan Abiad

<ma192@aub.edu.lb>; May Massoud mm35@aub.edu.lb; Ibrahim H. Osman

<ibrahim.osman@aub.edu.lb> (BGS Chair)

Date: September 3rd

2015

Ref: Board of Graduate Studies (BGS) Annual Report to the Senate: AY 2014-2015

Dear President Khuri:

On behalf of the Board of Graduate Studies (BGS), I am writing this summary to inform you on the

main accomplishments of BGS for the academic year 2014-2015. The GBS members met nine

times in a period of 6 months, starting on October 24th

2015 and ending on May 25th

, 2015. Each

meeting took at least two hours of deliberation. The status of the various proposals is summarized as

follows:

i) Approval of proposals for New or Modified Programs:

1- The “MS program in Food Security” from FAFS. Professors Abu Musa and

Massoud reviewed the proposal, and the BGS accepted it after 2 revisions.

2- The “Modified Master program in Nursing - Part A without Part B on the research

program” from FHS. Professors Maddah and Zenger reviewed the proposal, and the

BGS accepted it after two revisions.

3- The “MS program in Energy Studies with non-thesis option” from DUIP. The BGS

accepted it without a major review. The changes were minor to an existing program.

ii) Proposals are in Progress either Under Review or Revision

1- The “MA is Art History and Curating proposal” from FAS. It was reviewed by

Professors Dumit and Saad. The review was sent back to FAS.

2- The “PhD program in Chemistry” from FAS. A subcommittee consisting of

Professors Abiad and Saad was appointed to review the proposal.

3- The “PhD program in Epidemiology” from FHS. An sub-committee consisting of

Professors Eid and Talhouk was appointed to review the proposal.

iii) Pending Proposals still to Review (Submitted outside regular semesters):

1. The “MS program in Plastic and Reconstructive surgery” from FM. It was

submitted by Professor Jaffa on 16 July 2015 and will be processed during the

academic year 2015-2016.

Bliss Street; P0.Box: 110236; Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107-2020;Beirut, Lebanon. Secretary: +961 1 352700;

Office:+961 1 35000 Ext 3953; Fax: +961 1 750 214; Email: Ibrahim.Osman@aub.edu.lb Page-2

2. The “Dual Master's Degree in Engineering Management and Energy Studies” from

FEA and Energy Studies at DUIP. It was submitted by Professor Mukalled on 26 /5/

2016 and will be processed during the academic year 2015-2016.

3. The “Master Degree Program in Integrative Health,” prepared by Professors. Saliba

(FAS) and Hamadeh (FM). It was submitted by Professor Ghaddar on 11/5/2015 and

will be processed during the academic year 2015-2016.

iv) Policy and Regulation Issues

1. The “Guidelines for Preparing and Evaluating Proposals for New Graduate

Academic Programs” were developed by Professors Osman, Talhouk and Dallal. The

BGS approved it and it is posted on the Graduate Council (GC) webpage.

2. The BGS discussed the various options proposed by GC to set the number of votes for

a thesis to pass or fail. The following motion “Successful completion of the thesis

defense requires at least four affirmative votes and no more than one negative vote”

was approved by BGS.

3. The BGS approved the OSB request to integrate “AUB zero-comprehensive exam”

into capstone Courses: (BUS349– Strategic Management, MBA; MHRM306 – HR

Strategy course, MSHR; MFIN 304 - Financial Strategy, MSFIN)

4. The BGS rejected the FAS request to waive the GRE for applicants to the PhD in

Arabic.

The BGS took actions on other recommendations coming to the board from the

Graduate Council.

v) Recommendations for Improving the Work of BGS.

The first meeting of BGS normally takes place at the end of October each year after the

election of representatives from the six faculties to BGS and the appointment of a Chair

by the President. This process allows effectively six months of work due holiday breaks

during the academic year. As a result, BGS inherits pending proposals from the previous

academic year. This year, BGS members had two long meetings per month on the

average. The meetings also used to took place between 4-6:30 pm to find a suitable time

slot for all, during the meetings, there was no staff support. Further, some BGS members

do not want to have meetings during the summer. These lead to the above pending list

of items. Therefore, the followings are some suggestions for your consideration to

improve the work of BGS:

- To ask Faculty to elect their representatives to the Board at the end of the academic

year in June, so that the board can have its first during the week of September.

- To provide support staff to help in organizing and processing the BGS meetings from

booking places, taking minutes, keeping records of received proposals, approved

proposals, referee reports, and vote of motions for future references. Currently, I have

no access to past BGS records and where to deposit this year BGS materials.

- To provide incentives for the committee members to work during the extended

holiday breaks (at least in between semester breaks January and the Summer)

Bliss Street; P0.Box: 110236; Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107-2020;Beirut, Lebanon. Secretary: +961 1 352700;

Office:+961 1 35000 Ext 3953; Fax: +961 1 750 214; Email: Ibrahim.Osman@aub.edu.lb Page-3

- To clarify the relationship and role of the GC in the BGS bylaws. AUB may extend

the role of GC to provide the requested support to BGS.

Yours Sincerely

Ibrahim H. Osman, BGS Chair

15 September 2015

UNIVERSITY DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE

AY 2014-15

Members

Chairperson: Dean Patrick McGreevy

Ex-Officio Members:

FAS Dean Patrick McGreevy

FM VP/Dean Mohamed Sayegh (Represented by Prof. Ghazi Zaatari)

FAFS Dean Nahla Hwalla

FEA Dean Makram Suidan (Represented by Prof. Fadl Mukalled

OSB Acting Dean Salim Chahine

FHS Dean Iman Nuwayhid

Dean of Student Affairs Talal Nizameddin

Elected Members:

FAS Asst. Prof. Lisa Arnold (replaced by Asst. Prof. Florian Bertrand in spring semester)

FM Prof. Joseph Ghafari

FEA Assoc. Prof. Wassim Masri (replaced by Assoc. Prof. Hazen Hajj spring semester)

FAFS Prof. Mustapha Haidar

FHS Asst. Prof. Miran Jaffa

OSB Sr. Lecturer Hanin Abdullah

Student Representative:

Mr. Anthony Abou Nader (OSB)

Activities in AY 2014-15:

The University Disciplinary Committee dealt with two significant cases in 2014-15. The first was a case of

falsifying research results by a graduate student in FAFS who was working on her master’s thesis. The committee

found the evidence compelling and voted to expel the student from AUB. The committee’s decision was later

reconsidered because it was determined that the case should have been considered as research misconduct. The

second case investigated an incident of a violent attach by two individuals upon a third person in Jafet Library. The

committee found the evidence against the assailants compelling and voted to suspend both of them for the coming

summer and fall semesters.

Submitted by Patrick McGreevy, Chair

Annual Report Library Committee (2014-2015)

In 2014-2015, the University Library Committee supported a number of library

proposals and initiatives, most importantly:

(1) Allowing the University Library to establish an Endowment funds, provided by

donors, as soon as applicable. This proposal was supported by the Provost.

(2) Upgrading of the library integrated system from Millennium to Sierra in order

to improve library operations and provide better services for students, faculty, and

researchers. Sierra system was purchased in June 2015 and will replace

Millennium before June 2016.

In 2014-2015, the University Library Committee also raised concern about the lack

of increase in library material budget since 2011 at a time the University is rapidly

increasing its graduate programs, while books, journals, and database prices and

subscription rates are increasing worldwide, on an average of 5% annually. The

University Libraries cancelled hundreds of subscriptions and reduced its book

budget by half as a result of lack of necessary funds.

Lokman Meho, Ph.D.

University Librarian

&

Ghassan M. Matar, Ph.D.

Chair, University Library Committee

University Publications Committee

Annual Report to the

University Senate of the

American University of Beirut

Chairperson: Bashshar Haydar

Elected Members: George Arbid (FEA) Bettina Bastian (OSB) Lilian Ghandour (FHS) Joseph Nassif (FM) Paul Newson (FAS) Wissam Raji (FAS) Imad Toufeili (FAFS)

Ex-officio members: Provost Ahmad Dallal (voting ex-officio member)

Morgan Roth, Associate Vice-president for Marketing and Communications (represented by Sally Kaya Najjar) (no longer participating as of May 2015)

Yasmine El Hajjar, Managing Editor, AUB Press Clare Leader, Corresponding Editor, AUB Press

Invited members: Assaad Khairallah, al-Abhath Editor Helga Seeden, Berytus Archaeological Studies Editor

During the 2014–2015 academic year, the University Publications Committee met four

times: on Tuesday, 28 October 2014; Tuesday, 9 December 2014; Tuesday, 28 April 2015;

and Monday, 11 May 2015.

I. Actions taken by the Committee

Agreement to publish, pending positive peer review reports, 9 manuscripts

submitted for publication:

a) the proceedings of a conference on “Space and Place” hosted by the Arts and

Humanities Initiative,

b) Anesthesiology at AUB by Dr. Musa K. Muallem of AUB’s Department of

Anesthesiology,

c) an anthology of reproduced selections from the literary journal Lotus

accompanied by analytical essays by current writers commenting on the

Lotus material and its relevance to the present and the future, edited by Tariq

Mehmood Ali,

d) a collaborative “hybrid” publication entitled “This is the Time and This is the

Record of the Time,” consisting of a collection of 5 commissioned academic

texts and a catalogue of an art exhibition by the same name,

e) ‘Afiya Ras Beirut: The Ras Beirut Well-Being Survey by Afamia Kaddour,

Sawsan Abdulrahim, Cynthia Myntti, Nisreen Salti, Livia Wick and Huda

Zurayk,

f) AUB: A Century and a Half / Celebrating 150 Years of Education, Service, and

Scholarship (proceedings of the spring 2013 conference), edited by Nadia El

Cheikh, Bilal Orfali, and Lina Choueiri

g) From the Suez Canal to the Arab Spring: Latin American Revolutionaries and

the Arab World by Federico Velez of Zayed University, UAE,

h) “We are in this Together”: An Oral History of Ras Beirut by Maria Abunnasr,

i) The Arab Nude edited by Octavian Esanu and Kirsten Scheid.

Agreement to reject the publication of 5 proposed manuscripts:

a) The Special Theory of Relativity: Mathematical Refutations by Radwan M. Kassir,

b) a cookbook being prepared by a group of AUB alumni in the US who intend the

book as a fundraiser for AUB as well as a publication in celebration of AUB’s

150th anniversary in 2016,

c) Jawdat Haydar: The Voice From Baalbek by John Munro,

d) Anesthesiology at AUB by Musa K. Muallem,

e) Mechanisms Regulating the M-phase of Cell Cycle in Eukaryotes by Mohammed El

Dika.

In addition, the authors/editors of 2 other books previously submitted for peer

review, were notified by the corresponding editor of the AUB Press that their books

were rejected (without a committee vote because the peer reviewers’ reports were

negative). They are:

a) Tadrij al-adani ila Qira’at sharḥ al-sa’ad ‘ala taṣrif al- zanjani ( تدريج األداني إلى

-by Sheikh Abdülḥaq ṣibṭ al-’allama al (قراءة شرح السعد على تصريف الزنجاني

nawawi al-thani, edited by Sheikh Osama al-Sā’idi

b) The Development of a Scientific Culture in the Arab/Islamic World by Khalil M.

Bitar.

American University of Beirut University Committee on Student Affairs (UCSA)

2014-15 Annual Report Elected Members Prof. Hassan Artail (FEA) – Chairperson Assoc. Prof. Leila Dagher (FAS) Asst. Prof. Joseph Nassif (FM) Asst. Prof. Ali Chalak (FAFS) Asst. Prof. Lillian Ghandour (FHS) Asst. Prof. Fouad Zablith (OSB) Student Representative Maribelle Komives (FAS) Ex-Officio Members Provost, Prof. Ahmad Dallal Dean of Student Affairs, Mr. Talal Nizameddine (Represented by Mr. Charbel Tarraf) Mandate Given the updated bylaws of the Committee, devise a corresponding plan for the Committee’s work and develop a list of corresponding tasks to process. Executive Summary In the AY 2013-2014, the Senate’s University Committee on Student Affairs (UCSA) proposed changes to the bylaws of the Committee so as to include in them specific objectives, and thus help the Committee better develop yearly tasks that lead to meeting these objectives. The proposed bylaws were later approved by the Senate, which in addition, advised to merge them with the old ones. As a result, the Committee’s bylaws became as follows: • To recommend to the senate board policies regarding student life and activities on campus. • To deal with any aspect of student life referred to it by the senate or the president. • Promote communication between students, departments, faculties, and alumni relations office. • Provide a platform for inter-faculty discussions and recommendations on student affairs. • Make recommendations for an on-going assessment program to measure student perceptions

and needs. • Make recommendations to the Office of Student Affairs on matters relating to the Counseling

Center, Career Services, Enrollment Management, Housing and Residential Education, Disability Resources and Wellness Education.

In the AY 2014-2015, the UCSA discussed several proposals for initial tasks that are consistent with the above bylaws, and agreed on a proposal that calls for working with the University Student Faculty Committee (USFC) and the Student Representative Committee (SRC) to develop an online mediated platform, which could be used by students to voice concerns and suggest ideas for enhancing student life.

The involvement of the USFC and SRC will continue after the development and deployment of this platform, mainly to examining the submitted student comments and suggestions for the purpose of identifying common subjects that fall within the jurisdiction of the UCSA and are aligned with its bylaws. The functional design of the online platform is not yet finalized, but once it is, we plan on seeking the assistance of the AUB IT to develop and deploy this platform. We are targeting to complete the design before the end of the 2015-2016 fall term, so that we can hopefully have an operational website in the year 2016. Sincerely,

Hassan Artail, UCSA Chair

Academic Development Committee2014-15 Annual Report

MEMBERSHIP: Provost Ahmad Dallal (or designee), Wafic Sabra (Chair-person), Zaher Dawy, Ali El-Hajj, Rola Khishfe, Nada Melhem, Lama Moussawi,Mona Nasrallah, Adib Saad, Nadine Darwiche, Mohamad Chahrour (StudentRepresentative).

ACTIVITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The Academic Devel-opment Committee (ADC) met on April 21, 2015, March 17, 2015 and Novem-ber 19, 2014.

• The ADC recommended to abide by the guidelines as listed in the Under-graduate Catalogue (p. 56, Catalogue 2014-15) in relation to GE require-ments for double major and dual degree students.

• The ADC recommended the establishment of the Department of IndustrialEngineering and Management in FEA.

• The ADC recommended the establishment of the Department of Chemicaland Petroleum Engineering in FEA.

• The ADC recommended the establishment of the Petroleum Studies Pro-gram at AUB.

1

Senate Steering Committee (SSC)

Annual Report

2014 – 2015

Composition: Dima Jamali (OSB-Chair), Arne Dietrich (FAS), Ayman

Kayssi (FEA), Salah Zeineddine (FM), Mazen Ghoul (FAS), Lara

Nasreddine (FAFS), Jocelyn DeJong (FHS and Senate Secretary)

Functions: The functions of the Senate Steering Committee (SSC) are

clearly defined in the Senate Bylaws, Appendix I (Standing Committees and

Boards of the Senate).

Meetings and Actions: The SSC met monthly during the academic year

2014 – 2015, typically two weeks prior to each Senate meeting, essentially

to set the agenda for each Senate meeting. The deliberations and decisions

taken by the SSC amounted to the agenda for each Senate meeting.

The SSC was active in terms of identifying and soliciting and integrating

into the Senate agenda a number of issues which are critical to AUB as an

institution and its various constituencies (including the Faculties, the Faculty

Body and Students). Critical items that were raised and discussed in the

SSC (and the Senate subsequently) during the AY 2014-2015 include tenure

and the tenure proposal; faculty contract and various proposed revisions and

iterations to protect faculty benefits; IT, data privacy and investigations into

data leaks; AUB budgeting process, faculty compensation and the taskforce

recommendations; instructors and lecturers and their further integration into

academic life; new faculty workload policy and its implications; proposed

changes to composition of certain committees (e.g. PPRC – Policies and

Procedures Review Committee); and assessment and processing the

approval of various academic initiatives (e.g. BE In Petroleum Engineering;

MS Food Security; new Department in Industrial Engineering; new

Department of Petroleum & Chemical Engineering). The SSC also

requested a meeting for the Senate or Senate Representatives with the BOT,

and processed a faculty open letter addressed to the AUB Administration

and the BOT (dated December 11 2014), highlighting the main salient

pending issues from the perspective of the faculty at AUB.

Provost Ahmad Dallal attended the SSC meetings in his capacity as a non-

voting ex-officio member.

September 17, 2015

D. Jamali

Chair , SSC, 2014-2015

N.B. The minutes of the majority of the SSC meetings were recorded by Ms.

Jennifer Muller (Special Assistant to President Dorman at the time).

SENATE COMMITTEE ON FACULTY AFFAIRS

ANNUAL REPORT, 2014 - 2015

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Victor Araman (OSB); Nadim Farajalla (FAFS); Diana Jaalouk (FAS); Ali Chalak (Fall) Jad

Chaaban (Spring) (FAFS); Souha Kanj Sharara (FM); Shadi Saleh (FHS); Elie Shammas (FEA

Chair).

REPORT

The SCFA met several times throughout the year. The members of the committee complemented

the meetings with electronic correspondence. SCFA members met with several administrators on

different occasions including members of the Board of Trustees, the President and Provost, Ms.

Samar Diab, and Mr. Maroun Ghazal. The main task throughout the year was to finalize the

faculty stand on the Faculty Appointment Letter.

In summary, the committee followed up on faculty matters as listed below.

1- Faculty Contract

a. For the sake of continuity of the contract negotiation, early in the Fall semester,

SCFA reappointed the prior year SCFA chairs to continue the faculty contract

negotiation with the administration.

b. SCFA members met with the negotiators, members of the administrations, Faculty

United lawyers, and held joint meetings with the SCC to ensure an extensive and

comprehensive stand on the contract issues.

c. SCFA organized a town hall meeting for all faculty members to discuss contract

issues.

d. The culmination of the extensive work, after taking into consideration the

administration stand on key topics, was a proposed contract draft, which was

presented to the Senate.

e. The Senate had voted in favor of adopting the SCFA-proposed contract.

f. The administration did put in effect a contract that was different from the Senate-

approved contract. The main differences were two key items that relate to faculty

benefits, namely, health insurance and retirement.

g. SCFA continued its effort to reconcile the differences with the administration and

proposed minor changes that address the shortcomings of the imposed contract.

However, the changes were rejected by the administration.

h. Effectively, the faculty members are currently being asked to sign a version

of a contract that was not the one supported by faculty representatives nor

the one that was endorsed in the Senate.

2- Benefits and Salaries

a. SCFA members felt that faculty benefits in general should remain a top priority

for SCFA discussions

b. SCFA initiated discussions with HR and the chair of the Director of Benefits to

understand the statistics of key benefits as well as their costs.

c. SCFA is aware that the Task force on faculty compensation has completed its

work, however, the finding of the task has not been shared with the faculty at

large.

d. Disability insurance should be included in the general insurance package. The

administration should have added this item in the latest insurance RFQ.

e. Maternity Leave for RAs is a must and all maternity leaves should adhere to the

Lebanese law.

3- Budget process

a. SCFA discussed the budget process in couple of meetings. It views the current

process adopted by the administration as a work in progress that needs to be

addressed and completed in a satisfactory way during the coming year.

b. The budget should be presented to the Senate in a timely manner with clear

assumptions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Over the past year SCFA has exhausted all its options to reconcile this contract issue. As it

stands, the current contract falls short of addressing the concerns that pertain to protecting basic

faculty benefits. Accordingly, we strongly urge the new administration to re-initiate negotiations

on the contract to address legitimate faculty concerns.

SCFA urges the new administration to protect faculty and academic staff benefits as well as

allow for effective faculty representation on all committees that pertain to faculty benefits.

SCFA urges the new administration to form a budget process and allow faculty representation to

be part of this process in the spirit of shared governance. The budget process is an enabler of

sound governance.

September 18, 2015

On behalf of SCFA

Elie Shammas (chair)