Summer 2009

AUCTODAY MAIN

FEATURES

Quarantine Connection

First Tradition

Academic In Chief

National Implications of An International Crisis

A Special Return

AUSCENES
New trustees ppointed, Zewail named to U.S. president’s council,
former ambassador heads new public
affairs school, ministry approves bachelor’s in petroleum engineering

LETTER

ALUMNI PROFILES
Iman Abdulfattah (MA ’04) recounts her experience guiding President Barack Obama on a tour in the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo

AROUND THE WORLD

AKHER KALAM
Jimmy A. Beshai ’47 gives an account of his days with Martin Luther King, Jr.

 


 


   A Special Return


                                                              Alumni homecoming weekend
                                                                 at AUC’s New Cairo Campus

                                                                              Photos by Ahmad El-Nemr


   Dozens of white umbrellas flooded Bartlett Plaza on the four-day homecoming held at the New Cairo Campus for the first time, with more than 3,200 alumni and their families in attendance. The weekend commenced with a reception for alumni traveling from abroad and continued with activities and entertainment for adults and children throughout the weekend, including musical performances and a sports tournament. Some alumni traveled from as far as England, the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Tunisia, Qatar, Kuwait and Lebanon specifically to attend.

    Holding the event on the New Cairo Campus enhanced the festive atmosphere for alumni. “The new campus is very big; it’s more like a celebration or reunion than the old one,” said Lobna Mostafa ’04.

   Although the campus was different, the atmosphere that distinguishes AUC remained the same. “Entering this morning, with all the decoration, it reminded me of initiation day in 1945,” said Zeinab Gohar ’50.

   One of the highlights of the day was the torch relay ceremony to inaugurate the New Cairo Campus, in which a torch was passed from alumni grouped by decade to the current Student Union president. A gala dinner ended the celebrations, with a performance by the Riff Band.

By Sarah Topol


 




   
         


50th reunion celebrations held on the New Cairo Campus during the four-day alumni
weekend




 Abu Bakr Radwan ’69, one of the awardees at the 40th reunion celebrations during alumni weekend, with Raymonda Raif ’91, director of alumni and trustee affairs


During alumni weekend, three alumni received Distinguished Alumni Awards for their accomplishments in various fields

Since joining AUC in 1973, Mary Iskander ’76 has established key projects to reunite and honor AUC’s alumni, including the compilation of a database with nearly 30,000 alumni worldwide, her initiation of the International Alumni Council in 1981 and the formation of active alumni chapters around the world. In 2000, Iskander coordinated the campaign for the New Cairo Campus, and in 2007, she was appointed the associate vice president of institutional advancement for alumni affairs and special adviser to the AUC president.


  
     
 

Karim Ramadan ’87 is general manager of Microsoft Egypt, a position he has held for the past seven years. Under Ramadan’s tenure, Microsoft Egypt was awarded –– for the first time in the Middle East and Africa –– the Best Subsidiary in the World Award from Microsoft, as well as the Corporate Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of State. Among Ramadan’s accomplishments are the development of large nationwide projects such as the e-Gov Project, the Egyptian Education Initiative and Cyber Peace Initiative for Internet Safety for Children.


     

Mervat El Kaffas ’80 majored in journalism and mass communication and, in 1980, joined Egyptian TV as a news editor and presenter. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she served as host of major radio programs and talk shows for the local European service of Cairo Radio. In 2002, she was director of Nile TV’s news bulletins and in 2005, she was head of the channel’s news department. In March 2009, she became president of Nile TV.