LAU received the special award for best university of the year at the Dubai Lynx due to the Graphic Design students soaring success. Our students Chelsea Abi Saab and Nadia Khabbaz picked up first and second prizes respectively for the du student integrated award, and to add to that list of achievements, LAU students made up over half those shortlisted for the award this year. “It’s wonderful for the university, the department and the students,” says Melissa Plourde Khoury, associate chair of the Department of Design, who collected the award in Dubai on behalf of the institution.
“We instill a lot of conceptual thinking in our programs as part of our mission. Our students don’t just create visually oriented designs but are creative conceptual thinkers,” says Plourde Khoury, explaining the principles that contributed to the overwhelming success of her students. “They don’t realize that they can actually win. It never ceases to amaze me how skeptical students can be,” she adds.
“The faculty play a strong role as motivators and facilitators,” concurs Plourde Khoury. “The students have the capacity and know-how, but the commitment of the faculty makes it happen. Joumana was supporting her students in every aspect of the project and its application up until the moment they sent off their entries.”
