Valedictorian and recipient of Student Leadership Award and Communication Award Dana Atrach with dean Dennis and president Schapiro. Right: Jassim Kunji and Mo’tasem Kalaji receive Dean’s Award.
The Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) will hold its second graduation ceremony at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) today.
The Class of 2013 with 33 graduates, among them 15 Qataris, will receive Bachelors of Science in journalism (16) and communication (17). Several are graduating with minors in public relations, business studies and for the first time, certificates in Middle East studies.
A total of nine seniors will graduate with academic honours: three summa cum laude, three magna cum laude and three cum laude.
According to Everette E Dennis, Dean and CEO of NU-Q, 24 of the 33 graduating seniors made to the Dean’s List at least once, having achieved a grade point average (GPA) of 3.75 for communication and 3.7 for journalism.
“This graduating class has accomplished an incredible amount in their four years at NU-Q. Our seniors have produced, filmed, animated, edited, directed, researched, written, reported and broadcast no less than 500 works during their time at university,” he said.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony will be Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Mohamad al-Thani, director general of Al Jazeera and a member of NU-Q’s Joint Advisory Board, as well as Northwestern University president Morton Schapiro and Dean Dennis.
The ceremony will also feature a keynote speech by Qatari writer and filmmaker Sophia al-Maria, author of the critically acclaimed The Girl Who Fell to Earth.
Special awards were given to outstanding seniors for their special academic achievements at the NU-Q President’s Lunch, which was held yesterday.
In his opening remarks, Schapiro expressed his pride in what the Qatar campus has achieved.
“I am always proud to say that this is not a branch campus; along with our campuses in Chicago and Evanston, this is one of the three Northwestern University campuses, and our students and faculty here are every bit as good as our students and faculty in the US.”
Dana Atrach, a graduating student was declared as the Class of 2013 Valedictorian as well as recipient of the Communication Award and Student Leadership Award.
In a speech before Schapiro and the graduating class, Atrach said: “Our past four years have seen us as the stars of theatre performances, award-winning filmmakers and journalists, speakers at international conferences, and so much more. As journalists, we have breached the borders of different countries to report on numerous political and social issues.”
In addition, the recipients of the Dean’s Award were announced. They were Jassim Kunji and Mo’tasem Kalaji, while the Liberal Arts Award and the Journalism Award were received by Shahd Dauleh and Sidra Ayub respectively.
NU-Q has some 16 nationalities on its campus.