BEIRUT, Lebanon - AUB President Peter F. Dorman told students, faculty, and staff at the inaugural ceremony for the 2008-09 academic year that the fact that no one possesses absolute 'Truth' makes education and learning all the more exciting and dynamic.
Dorman, during the University's official Opening Ceremony which was held at Assembly Hall October 6 at noon, said:
This, he added, prompts AUB students and faculty to continue their dedication to question the 'the sum of human knowledge with open and skeptical minds, fully aware of its fallibility, and even grateful for it, because of the opportunities it offers us to explore uncharted avenues of thought and to discover new knowledge.'
Dorman, who assumed office in August 2008, is also the great-great-grandson of AUB founder Daniel Bliss and has strong emotional ties to the University where he used to play as a child of AUB academics, growing up in Beirut. Before becoming AUB's president, Dorman was the chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at one of the world's top research universities, the University of Chicago, since 2002.
An accomplished humanist and an international leader in the study of the ancient near east, and in particular the field of Egyptology, in which he is a noted historiographer, epigrapher and philologist, Dorman brings to AUB his rich expertise.
Titled 'Education at AUB: the Importance of Fallibility,' Dorman's address attracted a packed audience of members of AUB's Board of Trustees, vice presidents, staff, and students.
President Dorman, who stressed the importance of questioning truths in a fallible world, said that what AUB teaches its students is more than just practical skills. 'We teach our students how to learn; we lead them down the roads of different methodologies, of different problems of inquiry. We invite them to participate in a journey of self-discovery that can last for an entire lifetime,' said Dorman.
In his address, he recounted the reactions he received when talking to alumni whose AUB education rendered them good citizens of the world.
'They [alumni] spoke of how AUB had altered their perspectives, had given them a different outlook, had changed their lives. They spoke of their conviction that AUB represents hope for the future, a place where tolerance is actively fostered, where responsibility is encouraged, a place that has always played a leadership role in education and research, where the ideals of diversity are celebrated. They spoke of their concern that these things be carefully nurtured and preserved…The alumni perspective is a useful one to attend to, as it reflects the experience of our graduates in the real world, far outside the campus walls, and often years after they graduate. The qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public responsibility, so often mentioned by our alumni, are not listed in any course catalogue; they are not part of the required general education curriculum,' he added.
President Dorman noted that AUB teaches its students critical thinking and ways to question the world. 'We know full well that the apparent certainties of the past can be leavened, changed, and overturned by the experience and insights of today. The tempo of debate is especially freewheeling in the humanities and social sciences, where often the very terms of debate are debated. But even the physical and biological sciences, which are securely grounded in the methods of quantitative measurement and repeatable observation, achieve their progress through the development and substantiation of what are resolutely called 'theories,' even when these theories have become far from theoretical,' he said.
'In the last 142 years, AUB has achieved a large degree of fame and respect, in the minds of its alumni and friends, by promoting qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public service-as much as, or even more than, for the academic rigor of its courses. These qualities, these ideals we strive for, are an apparent by-product of an AUB curriculum. I can only surmise that they are communicated by the manner in which faculty at AUB pursue their pedagogical roles. And it this special relationship, between our faculty members and our students, that I wish to touch on today,' added Dorman.
As a result, Dorman said that education is a 'cooperative engagement' of both young and old minds. 'It is in the realm of the fallibility of human knowledge, rather than received truth, that we hold our most productive dialogues. The consequences of such an engagement may be realized only long after graduation, but if the words of our alumni are any guide, AUB is doing something right-and it is something we must continue to do. For in this fallible world, let us acknowledge that the challenges of life will test our graduates more seriously than we ever can in the classroom,' he said.
'Let us further hope that we never discover the whole and absolute Truth: then we will simply have to teach it, and academia will become a very dull place indeed,' concluded President Dorman.
Members of the AUB's BOT who attended the ceremony were Philip Khoury, Ali Ghandour, Myrna Bustani, Farouk Jabre, David Bickers, Nabil Chartouni, Alexander Geha, Alexander Ercklentz, Jose Zaglul, Abdulsalam Haykal, and Raja Trad.
The AUB Choir, directed by professor Paul Meers, chanted the Lebanese National Anthem and AUB's Alma Mater during the ceremony. A reception in front of AUB's Visitors Bureau followed.
'The absolutism of truth is surely not one that [AUB founder] Daniel Bliss regarded to as a fitting basis for a college education. In all honesty, we must teach our students the fallibility of human knowledge as we teach them the substance of it.'
This, he added, prompts AUB students and faculty to continue their dedication to question the 'the sum of human knowledge with open and skeptical minds, fully aware of its fallibility, and even grateful for it, because of the opportunities it offers us to explore uncharted avenues of thought and to discover new knowledge.'
Dorman, who assumed office in August 2008, is also the great-great-grandson of AUB founder Daniel Bliss and has strong emotional ties to the University where he used to play as a child of AUB academics, growing up in Beirut. Before becoming AUB's president, Dorman was the chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at one of the world's top research universities, the University of Chicago, since 2002.
An accomplished humanist and an international leader in the study of the ancient near east, and in particular the field of Egyptology, in which he is a noted historiographer, epigrapher and philologist, Dorman brings to AUB his rich expertise.
Titled 'Education at AUB: the Importance of Fallibility,' Dorman's address attracted a packed audience of members of AUB's Board of Trustees, vice presidents, staff, and students.
President Dorman, who stressed the importance of questioning truths in a fallible world, said that what AUB teaches its students is more than just practical skills. 'We teach our students how to learn; we lead them down the roads of different methodologies, of different problems of inquiry. We invite them to participate in a journey of self-discovery that can last for an entire lifetime,' said Dorman.
In his address, he recounted the reactions he received when talking to alumni whose AUB education rendered them good citizens of the world.
'They [alumni] spoke of how AUB had altered their perspectives, had given them a different outlook, had changed their lives. They spoke of their conviction that AUB represents hope for the future, a place where tolerance is actively fostered, where responsibility is encouraged, a place that has always played a leadership role in education and research, where the ideals of diversity are celebrated. They spoke of their concern that these things be carefully nurtured and preserved…The alumni perspective is a useful one to attend to, as it reflects the experience of our graduates in the real world, far outside the campus walls, and often years after they graduate. The qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public responsibility, so often mentioned by our alumni, are not listed in any course catalogue; they are not part of the required general education curriculum,' he added.
President Dorman noted that AUB teaches its students critical thinking and ways to question the world. 'We know full well that the apparent certainties of the past can be leavened, changed, and overturned by the experience and insights of today. The tempo of debate is especially freewheeling in the humanities and social sciences, where often the very terms of debate are debated. But even the physical and biological sciences, which are securely grounded in the methods of quantitative measurement and repeatable observation, achieve their progress through the development and substantiation of what are resolutely called 'theories,' even when these theories have become far from theoretical,' he said.
'In the last 142 years, AUB has achieved a large degree of fame and respect, in the minds of its alumni and friends, by promoting qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public service-as much as, or even more than, for the academic rigor of its courses. These qualities, these ideals we strive for, are an apparent by-product of an AUB curriculum. I can only surmise that they are communicated by the manner in which faculty at AUB pursue their pedagogical roles. And it this special relationship, between our faculty members and our students, that I wish to touch on today,' added Dorman.
As a result, Dorman said that education is a 'cooperative engagement' of both young and old minds. 'It is in the realm of the fallibility of human knowledge, rather than received truth, that we hold our most productive dialogues. The consequences of such an engagement may be realized only long after graduation, but if the words of our alumni are any guide, AUB is doing something right-and it is something we must continue to do. For in this fallible world, let us acknowledge that the challenges of life will test our graduates more seriously than we ever can in the classroom,' he said.
'Let us further hope that we never discover the whole and absolute Truth: then we will simply have to teach it, and academia will become a very dull place indeed,' concluded President Dorman.
Members of the AUB's BOT who attended the ceremony were Philip Khoury, Ali Ghandour, Myrna Bustani, Farouk Jabre, David Bickers, Nabil Chartouni, Alexander Geha, Alexander Ercklentz, Jose Zaglul, Abdulsalam Haykal, and Raja Trad.
The AUB Choir, directed by professor Paul Meers, chanted the Lebanese National Anthem and AUB's Alma Mater during the ceremony. A reception in front of AUB's Visitors Bureau followed.
