Impact Stories

It is the largest – and one of the oldest – WAAAUB alumni chapters outside Lebanon. The AUB Alumni Club of Jordan is also the only alumni chapter that owns its premises, which enables the club to host all AUB-related activities in-house. “It’s our home away from home,” says Club President Haya Imam (BBA ’99). Although the chapter has been less active in recent years because of the pandemic, the alumni community in Jordan is strong and active. “We are a very diverse group of all ages – some in their early 20s and others in their late 80s – but we all mingle together. We share a very strong connection to AUB,” explains Imam.

It is clear that the community is eager to resume in-person gatherings. More than 250 attended the sold-out annual Ramadan Night event on April 15, which was organized with the LAU Alumni Chapter. “It was a great event. You could feel how keen people were to be together again and in person. It created such a buzz that we feel pressured to be sure that future events are just as, and even more, successful,” says Imam. She and the other committee members work hard to make sure that the events they organize are also successful fundraising events. “Everything we do benefits our scholarship fund,” Imam explains, “so we’re always looking for sponsors and donors to raise money.”

The scholarship fund enables outstanding Jordanian students to study at AUB. Twelve alumni in different fields have already graduated. Dr. Issa Kutkut (BS ’09, MD ’13), who is currently an interventional cardiology fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University, benefited from the Jordan Chapter scholarship fund when he was studying at AUB. “Thanks to the generosity of this scholarship fund, I was able to reach my lifelong dream of becoming an interventional cardiologist,” says Kutkut. “I am actually two weeks away from the finish line now. Having watched my father successfully practice medicine in Jordan for four decades before succumbing to complications from a heart attack, my goal is to help prevent others from experiencing the heartache of losing a loved one in that way. Interventional cardiology has given me a way to honor my father. I am grateful to this fund for enabling me to achieve this success. I am looking forward to giving back to the Alumni Club of Jordan.”

“We are extremely proud of our scholarship recipients,” says Imam. “We ensure that we stay close to them when they are at AUB – and also after they graduate. We want them to have the same experience that we all had at AUB – the one that changed us mentally, that taught us how to live and how to enjoy life.”

“Our alumni in Jordan are great ambassadors for AUB – and strong supporters who are always eager to help their alma mater,” says Associate Vice President for Development, Alumni Relations, and University Events Salma Dannawi Oueida.