JEDDAH, 1 September 2004 — Effat College’s innovative faculty lecture series have proved so successful that the institution now plans to widen its scope and reach.
Last year, the college faculty formed a small grassroots initiative in response to an issue that many college and university faculties encounter due to their busy schedules. “Over the past few years at Effat College, the faculty has often commented on the relatively few opportunities to present their own research locally, so we decided to do something on a small scale within our institution to address that,” said Kerry Laufer, assistant to the dean for institutional development and quality control.
The objectives of the faculty lecture series are to engage in professional dialogue across disciplines and to showcase the unique talents of faculty members. Often in academic communities, faculty members are so busy juggling heavy teaching loads with significant administrative responsibilities that they forget why they chose an academic career in the first place. Most of the time, individuals within institutions have no idea about the kinds of exciting research their own colleagues are carrying out.
“Not only do the lecture series contribute to the academic richness of Effat College, but it also fulfills the need of our faculty to continue their research and to present it to peers,” said Laufer.
Faculty lectures during the inaugural year spanned a wide range of topics and disciplines. Dr. Tabassum Rashid, chair of department of psychology, discussed “Psychological perspectives on human aggression and violence”.
Dr. Anastasia Kamanos Gamelin, assistant professor of education, presented her research on “Curriculum, culture, and creativity: The case of Effat College”.
Dr. Sanna Dhahir, chair of department of English language and translation, presented her research on the literature of author V.S. Naipul. Dr. Eman Mohamed discussed her work on “Research writing: Variations between theses and articles”. And Dr. Elena Calude, visiting professor in computer science, discussed “unconventional methods of computation”.
The internal selection process for Effat’s 2004-2005 faculty lecture series is currently under way.
“We realized during our ‘test year’ that this was indeed a good thing. We expect to announce the 2004-05 lecture series to neighboring colleges and universities in September as soon as the schedule is finalized. We look forward to welcoming colleagues to the Effat campus this year to take part in this stimulating event,” said Laufer.
