Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), at Education City, opened its doors to another year of creative teaching and learning this week when it welcomed the Class of 2023 for an “entertaining and insightful” few days of orientation activities.
The Class of 2023 has 86 students from 14 countries, with 79 joining as undergraduates and seven joining the Masters of Fine Arts in Design programme.
Amir Berbic, dean of VCUarts Qatar, greeted the Class of 2023 and encouraged students to be “dedicated to their studies while also being active participants in their communities”.
He reiterated the context of Education City and urged students to “connect with their peers across the multi-university campus and take advantage of the vibrant cultural activities in Qatar”.
The new students were introduced to the orientation team leaders who organised orientation and who guided them through a wide range of activities that were created to acquaint them with the university.
Teslim Sanni, the Student Government Association (SGA) president, said: “Every year, VCUarts Qatar’s SGA chooses an orientation theme and works on it throughout the summer. This year, the SGA chose a carnival-themed orientation. A team of 22 volunteers, including all SGA members, worked tirelessly, decorating various parts of the university building, and also prepared fun events such as a scavenger hunt, departmental design activities and other fun tasks.”
Ameena al-Boinin, the SGA vice-president, added: “The SGA team and the student volunteers put in a lot of effort into making this orientation run as smoothly as possible and to welcome the new students and guide them to lead a fulfilled university life.”
VCUarts Qatar also welcomed 11 new faculty and staff members to the university. They include the 2019/20 Artists in Residence Ekta Aggarwal and Brynn Higgins-Stirrup.
The Artists in Residence will have the opportunity to work at dedicated studios at VCUarts Qatar, while also teaching and mentoring students from within the Painting and Printmaking programme.
Their nine-month period of research and practice in Qatar will culminate with an exhibition in April.
In addition, the university welcomed Christopher Fink, the new chair of the Fashion Design department; Aissa Deebi, the new director of the Painting and Printmaking department; and Kathryn London-Penny, the new director of the Communications department.
Welcoming the new faculty and staff, dean Berbic expressed his enthusiasm to “work with faculty, staff and students in charting an exciting new chapter for the university”.
The new academic year began with an annual faculty and staff assembly at Multaqa, Education City’s Student Centre.
The Distinguished Achievement in Service award was presented to assistant professor of Painting and Printmaking, Fleming Jeffries.
The Distinguished Achievement in Research award was presented to assistant director of Art History, Dr Radha Dalal.
The Distinguished Achievement in Teaching award was presented to assistant professor, English, Dr Robert Bianchi, while the Excellence in Commitment award was presented to Marlon Villones, the university’s IT co-ordinator.
The Excellence in Customer Service award was presented to Shankar Padmanabhan, the Fab Lab, Woodshop and Print Lab assistant co-ordinator.
The Excellence in Achievement award was presented to Isabelle St-Louis, the manager of Exhibitions & Lectures.
VCUarts Qatar officials with the Class of 2023.
