We want to do what we can to help
December 13, 2023
Professor Miles Lovelace was recruited to the American University of Beirut by then Department of Education chair Professor Murad Bashur. It was supposed to be just a one-year appointment as a visiting professor, but Lovelace stayed for four years. “At the end of every year, they asked me to stay,” he remembers. “We loved being at AUB, so it was easy to say ‘yes.’”
Although this happened 20 years ago, it is a time that Lovelace remembers very well: “I taught undergraduate and graduate classes at AUB to some of the best students I ever had,” he says. This is high praise coming from a man who taught students at a half dozen institutions in almost as many countries during his 50-year career.
Other enduring memories of AUB include the beauty of its campus (“the views of the Mediterranean, the walkways, the trees”), the close connections between faculty and students in the Department of Education, the “community feeling” on campus, and the many wonderful people that he and his wife, Nancy, met in Beirut. Some of those “wonderful people” are former AUB students that he has stayed in touch with over the years.
Miles, who earned a doctorate in education (administration, planning, and social policy) at Harvard University, and Nancy have established a scholarship fund to support AUB students majoring in education. Lovelace notes that many students who major in education share a deep commitment to teaching and to their students. Even if they go on to have very successful careers, they are often not lucrative careers and so these students don’t have the financial resources to give back that students who earn degrees in, for example, business, engineering, or medicine, enjoy. “We are deeply aware of how much Lebanon has gone through in recent years and of how severe the current financial need is,” he says. “We want to do what we can to help.” Miles and Nancy are not only helping students today. They have also made provisions to continue this support from their estate after they pass away.
“It was wonderful – and inspiring – to speak to Professor Lovelace about his amazing career and his time at AUB that he enjoyed so much,” says Associate Vice President for Development Walid Katergi. “We are deeply grateful to him for his support for our education students.”