Our Award-winning Network of Alumni and Friends
July 28, 2021
“These awards celebrate our extraordinary family of alumni and friends and their exceptional support for AUB and for the people of Lebanon during this terribly difficult time,” said Dr. Imad Baalbaki, AUB Vice President for Advancement and Business Development. “We could not do what we do without them.”
Baalbaki was referring to the two Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence Gold Awards that AUB recently won, and its selection as a finalist for a Platinum Award. In addition to these distinctions, Baalbaki himself was recently selected to receive the 2020 CASE Asia-Pacific Distinguished Service Award. (You can find a detailed list of these and other awards and nominations here.”
The CASE Gold Awards were given in recognition of global initiatives that AUB organized to raise awareness and secure support for urgent needs at the university and in the community during a global pandemic and as a result of the devastating explosion in the Beirut port on August 4, 2020. AUB won one of two Gold Awards in the Targeted Fundraising Campaign category for the AUB4Beirut Disaster Response, the fundraising appeal that the university launched within a day of the explosion to raise funds for patients injured by the explosion and for repairs at the medical center. On August 13, 2020, AUB expanded the fundraising campaign to address the urgent needs for scholarships for students whose families were affected by the explosion, to repair the campus, and for some of the many community outreach initiatives that AUB organized to help remove rubble, conduct building safety checks, recycle reusable materials, and provide food and medicine to some of the many people in Beirut who needed help. The AUB4Beirut Disaster Response raised more than $9.5 million through contributions from more than 2,700 donors, a powerful testament to AUB’s extraordinary community.
AUB won its second Gold Award in the Online Special Events (Fundraising) category for its livestream #AUBNecessary, a unique and memorable event that was organized with AUB alumnus Lebanese American comedian Nemr Abou Nassar (Nemr) to collect donations for community outreach initiatives, the AUB Medical Center, and student scholarships. A global audience tuned in to listen to alumni and friends who shared their memories of AUB and personal reflections on why they thought the university was necessary.
AUB’s entry in the “Best Practices in Communications and Marketing” category – “The situation was so bad that we had to cancel Giving Day. We organized a Giving Year instead.” – was selected as a regional finalist for a CASE Platinum Award. The entry focused on the university’s four back-to-back fundraising appeals between June 30, 2019 and August 5, 2020 that raised more than $25 million for student scholarships, staff and faculty support, patient care at our medical center, and AUB’s response to the pandemic. “What we did last year – coming together despite everything to support our university and our community – is nothing short of miraculous. It is clear from these awards that many others were also impressed,” said Baalbaki.