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Two semesters at AUB transformed my life

December 13, 2023

Jim Starling grew up in a small town in north central Wisconsin and attended Carroll College (Wisconsin). It wasn’t until his sophomore year, when he was approached by one of his professors, that he considered doing a junior year abroad. “There were four options,” he remembers, “three were in southeast Asia and then AUB.” After some research at the college library, Starling picked AUB. He was attracted by the fact that it was fully accredited by the New York Board of Regents, and that all the credits he earned at AUB would be transferred to Carroll – and the description of AUB as “the Harvard of the Middle East.”

Leaving Wisconsin for the first time, he arrived in Beirut in fall 1963 “knowing very little about the Middle East.” He settled in quickly. He got along especially well with his two Palestinian roommates: Mohammed Younis and Mahmoud Saleh. “They were both on full UNRWA scholarships – and brilliant students.” Shortly after he got to campus, Starling set up a meeting with Professor Kamal Salibi, an AUB alumnus (BA History ’49) and world-renowned historian of Lebanon and the Near East, who had heard from his brother, Dr. Bahij Sulayman Salibi, that Starling would be coming to AUB. “Dr. Salibi, who was a well-respected doctor in Marshfield, Wisconsin, where I grew up and attended high school, found out that I was coming to AUB. When we met, he told me that he would let his brother know that I was coming. I had no idea who Kamal Salibi was at the time. I knew him only as Dr. Salibi’s brother.” After Starling left AUB and returned to the US, he and Dr. Salibi kept in frequent communication.

Professor Kamal Salibi helped Starling set up his schedule, which included prerequisite pre-med courses in physics, genetics, and organic chemistry, and was “very demanding.” He also recommended that Starling take courses with particular professors. At the top of that list was Professor Charles Malik, also an AUB alumnus (BA Mathematics and Physics ’27) and distinguished professor of philosophy at AUB, who is especially well known for the role he played in drafting the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “So, I set up an appointment with Professor Malik. Again, I had no idea who he was. All I knew was that Professor Salibi had told me that I must take a course with him,” says Starling. It took some convincing. “Professor Malik told me that I would struggle in his class because I had never taken a philosophy course before – and he was right!” Starling still has a copy of the final paper that he wrote (on Aristotle’s Doctrine of Friendship) for Professor Malik’s course in moral ethics, for which he got a B.

“I got to know Dr. Malik while I was at AUB. He is one of the most impressive people that I have met in my life,” says Starling. Decades later, Starling still remembers something Dr. Malik said during a class in March 1964: “Never lose faith in the United States: Its principles of freedom. man, constitution, debate, discussion, play, and God are unheralded in the history of mankind.” When Starling left Beirut after ten months, Dr. Malik gave him a copy of one of his books, Man in the Struggle for Peace (Harper & Row, 1963). Several years later, Professor Salibi sent him a copy of his iconic work, A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered (University of California Press-Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1988).

Starling stayed in touch with Mohammed and Mahmoud after he returned to the US. “Mohammed and I are still in regular contact, but I have not been able to reach Mahmoud recently. I would love to be in touch with him again,” says Starling. He has also stayed in touch with AUB – and with the Middle East. Starling, who received his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and was a professor of general surgery on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin Medical School for 30 years, has travelled to the West Bank of Palestine as a medical missionary with the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund on 12 occasions. He is also a long-time supporter of AUB and a member of the Platinum Circle of the 1866 Society, which was established to recognize and celebrate consistent donors to AUB.

“It was such a pleasure to spend time with Dr. Starling and to hear about his transformative experience at AUB,” says Associate Vice President for Development Walid Katergi. “We are very grateful to him for his many years of support for our university.” Looking back on his two semesters at AUB 60 years ago, Starling says, “It was transformative. It opened doors for me that I did not expect. It changed my life.”