Great Expectations
     
  President’s Forum: Notes from Dr. Mawad  
 
   
Michel E. Mawad, M.D.
Michel E. Mawad, M.D.
 


Great Expectations
(Adaptation from Charles Dickens)

LAU has made phenomenal progress over the past few years. It now stands at the doorstep of the future, which we know is going to be very different. As it celebrates its Centennial, it is poised for the next phase in its evolution into a digitally transformed world of immense complexity, dazzling pace, mounting uncertainty, prevailing turbulence, and very different millennial and post-millennial generations. With its first steps toward its second century taken, LAU faces high stakes and a daunting mix of prospects and challenges.

Solid Prospects to Build On

Since 2020, LAU has scored strategic gains it can be proud of. Research output in highly competitive indexed journals has soared and with it our regional and global ranking as an institution. The crisis years were put firmly behind us in terms of enrollment, faculty ranks, morale, and particularly financial stability. Our two medical centers are in great shape, the New York City branch campus has materialized, our NECHE accreditation renewal is all but certain, the Pharmaceutical and Medical Research Center (PMRC) is underway, the Industrial Hub is up and running and the Sustainability Office is now an integral part of the university. 

By the same token, the Center for Policy Analysis has already started to bear fruit, the LAU Leadership Program has been successfully carried out, and the Office of Professional Ethics and Standards is taking shape. These innovative steps combined carry the promise of changing the face of LAU and making it an institution with one of the highest innovation indices and an advanced level of future-proofing. With these achievements in hand, LAU can set sail into its second century with the right academic and professional infrastructure that will serve it well in the “brave new world” still taking shape before our very eyes.

The Journey Onward

LAU has done well preparing itself for the future, which will require a high appetite for uncertainty absorption. This is true in light of the achievements mentioned above but particularly so in the area of digital transformation where it led the country in terms of content development, delivery methods and digital platforms. The university has provisioned well for the onward journey and the manifold challenges that will be encountered along the way. We will now address nine of these challenges:

1- The Challenge of Keeping a Small College Spirit in a Much-Expanded Comprehensive University.

This small college spirit has served us well over the years. It has kept LAU as a caring close-knit institution with an intact moral code, impeccable integrity, and a strong sense of moral fortitude. This great quality should be preserved at all costs.

2- The Challenge of Adequate Resourcing for Research En Route to Becoming a Major University.

This is a challenge of strategic proportions. It involves both intramural university resources well beyond the $2.3 million currently secured to become a fixed percentage of our operating budget. It also involves breaking the barrier and tapping extramural resources or external grants. This is a goal we have yet to achieve and much will depend on our success in this endeavor. The infrastructure is in place, but a sustained concerted effort needs to be made. It will also take time before concrete results start showing.

3- The Challenge of Significantly Growing Graduate Programs and Starting Doctoral Programs.

One goal that did not gain as much ground over the past years was the challenge of growing our graduate programs, particularly in terms of proliferation and enrollment. Graduate students’ numbers are modest, amounting to about 7 percent of total enrollment. This needs to change in terms of student numbers and graduate program numbers, particularly of the interdisciplinary kind. This is so crucial for research, for ranking, for our brand, and for our standing. Starting doctoral programs cannot be postponed any further. The recent moves addressed by the Council of Deans toward starting doctoral programs are steps in the right direction.

4- The Challenge of Improving Our Global Ranking to the 250–300 Bracket and Our Regional Ranking as Close to the Top as Possible.

This is going to be a major requirement we will have to face for our global footprint to become commensurate with our ambition, research objectives, and graduate program-targeted profile. Together with this comes the need for a much-improved regional standing with top ranking, a powerful network of partnerships and alliances, and hopefully a physical presence in the region.

This is not going to be an easy task in view of intensifying competition, the crowded playing field, resource shortages, and the level of support for some regional universities not available to LAU. A careful plan will be needed with the active involvement of all university constituencies at all decision-making levels. Since time is of the essence in the fast-moving world we live in, few years are available to us for achieving this goal. It should always be kept in mind that, for LAU, global footprint and frontline visibility begin with regional eminence.  

5- The Challenge of Expanding Our Links With Industry and Building Strategic Links Critical for Our Leadership Role in a Knowledge Economy.

The Fouad Makhzoumi Innovation Center, the PMRC, and the Industrial Hub are significant milestones on our way to building strategic partnerships with industry that are so pivotal to both parties. What was accomplished, however, was only the beginning and much remains to be done in the future. The LAU campus should become, among other things, a Research & Development hub, a Center for Innovation, and a haven for industry and academia to join forces in pursuit of creative solutions in a broad range of areas. The environment, renewable energy, water management, pharmaceuticals, food and nutrition, and policy-making are examples that readily come to mind. Building such partnerships has always characterized great universities, knowing that it is a long, arduous, and at times painstaking process. LAU has already started its journey down that path and our only choice is for it to accelerate in the future.

6- The Challenge of Resourcing Our Growth Through Fundraising, Particularly Capital Campaigns.

In order for LAU to fuel its growth in the directions outlined above, we need to significantly raise the bar in fundraising locally, regionally, and particularly globally in the US and Europe. We still have schools that need to be named, centers and labs as well, endowed chairs to be created, research funds to be made sustainable through endowments, sophisticated equipment to be acquired, and buildings to be erected, to name but a partial list of our pressing needs.

The Capital Campaign currently in the pipeline should take its course with our US-based fundraising operation making a significant contribution. Our regional fundraising also needs a shot in the arm through a relentless effort to reactivate traditional sources that have suffered in recent years as a result of a non-conclusive political climate. 

7- The Challenge of Finding Meaningful Ways to Integrate Our Liberal Arts Curriculum, Particularly Critical Thinking, Into Our Digitized Curriculum.

This is a huge challenge that holds special significance for our professional schools. Creative ways will have to be found for us to continue the transformative nature of an LAU education addressing the whole individual and affecting character and core values as much as cognitive faculties and technical knowledge. LAU’s “insignia courses” will have to continue to be regularly reviewed to ensure they serve the purpose, and ways for improvement will have to continue to be sought.

The confirmed special appeal of an LAU education that makes it so coveted by so many depends, in no small measure, on our ability to produce physicians, engineers, pharmacists and accountants with an Edu-Cultural horizon that transcends their specialization. This can happen through familiarity with seminal books, great debates, intellectual landmarks, current issues and major challenges affecting the world they live in. Such current issues include, inter-alia, the implications of open AI, global socio-political trends and SDGs.

8- The Challenge of Making LAU Increasingly Competitive to Sustainably Attract Best Faculty and Staff Talent.

We are all proud of the fact that LAU is an employer of choice. This fact, however, should not be taken for granted. It should be viewed as a challenge to work constantly in a crisis-ridden environment, a rapidly changing world and cut-throat competition for talent. The recent successes we scored together over AY2023-2024 that led to a marked improvement in our compensation packages are a case in point.

9- The Challenge of Equitable Treatment of all Members of the LAU Family, Be They Faculty, Staff, Physicians, or Any Other Category.

Each member of the LAU family should be able to feel protected and cared for on an equal footing under our policies and egalitarian culture. This should be part of the legacy that we cherish so deeply and a guiding principle that informs all that we do. The reward will be ample, reflecting on all aspects of our work, particularly morale, motivation and an abiding sense of self-worth.

A Glorious Past, a Vibrant Present, a Promising Future of Leadership

One of the great secrets of LAU is that it knows how to cherish and celebrate its past while steadily going toward it. Its vibrant present shaped by the stellar accomplishments of the past ten years has generated enough momentum for the journey to the future. Our beloved institution now embarks on this journey with abundant confidence, firm determination, and strong resolve to turn all challenges into opportunities.


 
 

Michel E. Mawad, M.D.
President,
Lebanese American University


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
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