Lebanese American University launches campaign in North America

The campaign, which is known as The Legacy and the Promise, seeks to raise $65m for the university over the next five years.

While LAU officially kicked off the public phase of the campaign in Beirut last October, the Los Angeles event provided an opportunity for the university to publicly launch The Legacy and the Promise in the United States. Lebanon's Consulate-General of Los Angeles Houssam Diab and Los Angeles Councilman Dennis Zine were among the guests at the dinner which also provided an opportunity to celebrate LAU's recent success and outline its impressive plans for the future with some of its North American-based constituency.

Guests included members of LAU's Board of International Advisors as well as alumni and friends of the university and members of the vibrant Lebanese community that lives in southern California.

"We are proud and humbled to have so many wonderful supporters in the United States and across North America," said Dr. Paul Boulos, chairman of the university's Board of International Advisors. "LAU is one of the leading universities providing a quality, American-style education to students in Lebanon and the Middle East and we are grateful to have such wide-ranging support from people who recognize how important our mandate is."

According to LAU president Dr. Joseph Jabbra, the university has become a major force to reckon with in higher education not only in Lebanon but throughout the entire region. He sites recently established partnerships with Partners Harvard Medical International and Northeastern University as examples of how LAU is broadening its reach and becoming a world-class institution.

A significant portion of the money raised during the campaign will be used to provide scholarships and financial aid to needy students -- something that Dr. Jabbra has been especially committed to doing since he took over as president of LAU in 2004. Funds will also be used to attract and retain top-level faculty to the university.

Since 1992, LAU has doubled its full-time faculty, a trend which the university hopes to continue in the years to come. The campaign will also support the building and improvement of new facilities, including the university's new Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, which will admit its inaugural class this fall, and a new School of Nursing, which is scheduled to open next year. Additionally the LAU is constructing the Frem Civic Center, which will be used as classroom space and to house the university's numerous academic institutions.

"LAU's international reach is genuinely inspiring to all of us associated with the University," said Robert Hollback, the university's director of development for North America. "Even thousands of miles from Lebanon we have many loyal alumni and friends. It's heartening to know that so many people here in the U.S. believe in our mission and support what we do."

Lebanese American University dates back to 1835 when it was established in Beirut as the American School for Girls. Today LAU is a non-profit, co-educational, private university that operates under a charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. It offers graduate and undergraduate degrees of study in five academic schools to over 7,000 students on two campuses in Beirut and Byblos, Lebanon.