In collaboration with Education USA, the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), and IREX, the American Space at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) organized an information session on the educational and exchange programs that the U.S. Department of State offers Iraqi citizens. The CEO of NAFSA, Dr. Fanta Aw, addressed the crowd of current and aspiring university students in attendance, and later engaged AUIB Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Zoheir Atieh, and Senior Technical Expert at IREX, Ms. Lori Mason, in a lively discussion aired by AUIB FM Station.
We live in a “very interdependent world,” where “our ability to (know) each other is necessary,” and where it is “vital” to comprehend this interdependency and its nuances, said Dr. Aw, stressing, in the same context, the “absolute necessity” of interdisciplinary studies. Dr. Aw dwelled on the concept of “wholistic” knowledge and education even after her address at the information session, discussing it further with Dr. Atieh and Ms. Mason at AUIB FM Station, lauding the University for offering a “wholistic student experience, both inside and outside of the classroom,” and expressing that she was “in awe of how much has been done” at AUIB.
Along similar lines, Ms. Mason saw that the goal of her organization, IREX, is to work not only toward students’ success in education, but also in their careers and roles as citizens, calling on educational institutions to encourage youth to seek employment with the private sector, and to be “citizens of Iraq and the global community.”