I feel very honored to have served as president through AUC’s 100th year. Our Centennial Nights, the climax of our yearlong celebrations, were just incredible: an intellectual and artistic feast, from Rana el Kaliouby’s riveting presentation on her innovative application of artificial intelligence to human betterment, to the fashion show led by students and alumni, the Student Union’s International Food Festival, the fireworks display and the 3D laser mapping of the portal. A creative army of enthusiastic students, faculty, staff and alumni conceived and produced these special festivities, further energizing our jump into the future. ...
Welcome to the celebration of AUC’s centennial. It feels like it’s taken a century to get here! Thank you for joining us on this historic occasion. ... What many of you may not know is that the planning for [the centennial] really began almost 25 years ago in 1994. In that year, the AUC Board created a strategic planning group called the Century Committee to look ahead and develop a vision for the University when it turned 100. You may also not know that the original hope of our founders a century ago was not to have a downtown campus but rather a much larger suburban campus that would allow for a wider range of activities. But the economic situation and the aftermath of World War I made that impossible. ...
