New LAU Design School

"LAU started the 2009­–2010 academic year with the opening of the new School of Architecture and Design. Headed by Acting Dean Elie Badr, the new school brings existing Architecture, Interior Design, Graphic Design and Fine Arts programs under one design-oriented roof.
Before the reshuffling, the Architecture and Interior Design programs were under the School of Engineering and Architecture — now renamed School of Engineering — while the Graphic Design and Fine Arts programs were offered by the School of Arts and Sciences.
“Bringing all these disciplines together in a single school of design brings more cohesion, and thus strengthens these programs that were operating under different administrative units,” says Dr. Abdallah Sfeir, LAU provost. “Beirut is a hub for all creative disciplines in the Middle East, and it is very befitting that LAU capitalizes on this in its offerings,” he adds.
“These programs are very much interlinked and should be in one school, in order to deliver the best education to our students and expand our school to include additional design programs” says Dr. Badr, who also serves as assistant
provost for Academic Programs.
Badr hopes to build a solid foundation for the school during his tenure, focusing on financial, governance and marketing issues. “You have to give [the school] an identity, create bylaws for it, develop its own academic plans, integrate it in the university, and set it on the right path of growth to deliver quality design programs,” he explains.
“Lebanon is very well known for its jewelry and fashion design. … These are some ideas that we will think about in expanding the school,” he says. “We will see which design fields are more suitable for the country and for the region,” he adds.
The school is now fully recognized by the Lebanese government, and an amendment to LAU’s charter by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is in progress."


Excerpt taken from the Lebanese American University website: http://www.lau.edu.lb/news-events/news/archive/new_lau_school_focuses_on_arch/