Success at Last plus Dinner at Ra'ed's and Expandable Family Homes

Sunday, February 9--From Tom:

Success at AUM: We did not know exactly what our missions would be when we signed up for this adventure in Jordan. We knew we'd be in a very foreign land teaching at a new university. We had lots of surprises and challenges and have overcome most of them.

One of the things I noticed when I became involved in the AUM campus is that there seemed to be a lot of things that didn't quite make sense or were missing, or didn't even work. It looked pretty good but I started noticing more and more issues that needed attention. I also recognized that it was a little risky for a new American to come on the Arab campus and start telling everyone how to change. Not good politics. Yet, I felt that if we were to have a positive influence on the campus, I needed to get involved, gently.

The Mission Statement of AUM indicates that they want to be a 'world-class' university with a top rated campus. The Catholic Church invested a lot of money ( in the range of $160 million) for new campus and buildings for the purpose of strengthening the Christian social culture in Jordan. It was personally blessed by the Pope and endorsed by the King in the opening ceremonies. It has grown rapidly and has attracted some excellent faculty with international training and experience. But there were things that I believed needed to change.

I started making a list of issues that I saw and then prioritized them. I wrote a seven page letter to my Dean, Ra'ed Qaqish in the first several weeks indicating my observations and suggestions. This got passed around and got sent to the President, his Vice-Presidents and the Deans Council. I was worried at first, but it seemed to be appreciated.

They put me on a committee whose focus was to bring the campus up to American education standards. I was made the Secretary. This let me control the message and tone of what was transpiring. The committee includes my Dean, an American staff member in IT, three very bright and outspoken women professors and Majdi who seems to control everything but never attends.

After a few months we had focused on the items in my letter and arrived at a prioritized list of recommendations. This was presented to the university Steering Committee made up of the President, Vice Presidents and several Deans and other campus leaders. I was a bit nervous.

The result was unanimous support and overwhelming endorsement of the items presented. They also empowered us in the committee to continue to monitor the progress being made and report back if items were not being done. There were about 16 items and I felt that if even a quarter were accomplished it would be a major transformation of the existing campus.

Items included in order: Developing a representative Student Government with elected leaders, establishing a Campus Bookstore, making the Recreation Center available to the Faculty, prequalifying students in English and overall aptitude ( be more selective), begin to develop campus traditions, provide projectors in each classroom, establish a Student Center at the center of campus, expand the snack bar, develop a campus library at the center of campus, provide durable outdoor seating at gathering places, establish Hosting Services for foreign faculty (just what we needed), develop group study spaces, establish a Facilities Committee that would oversee the orderly completion of unfinished construction ( we still don't have an elevator and heating was barely completed), develop a campus graphic 'way-finding' system, become involved in SCUP ( the Society for College and University Planners) and develop integrated housing on the campus to bring student life to the center of campus.

Main Student Gathering Place on AUM Campus

Most of these sound obvious but they were missing and not planned for. It is a commuter campus with a 45-90 minute commute for most since they live in Amman. There is a long story and many hours of discussion behind these but you'll probably understand. Anyway, we got to 1st base but it's still a long road.

Final Exams: These are finally over and there is endless paperwork to submit verifying, validating, certifying and endorsing. I helped as a proctor in several exams, some for Ronna and some for others. This is because the national pastime for Jordanian students is to cheat on exams. Ronna took away several exams and I moved three or four who were cheating. Then the submitting of the grades is on a form that is half in Arabic. Excuse me?? We now have 2 weeks to figure out what we're going to do for next semester. I'm teaching Psychology of Design. Really?? This is crazy.

Dinner at Dean Ra'ed's Home: We had a wonderful dinner at Dean Ra'ed's house up on a hill overlooking Amman. As is typical, the whole house is made up of apartments for their extended family. His mom lives downstairs and is the coolest lady, very spunky. "She don't take no crap".

"Mama Qaqish" and Nana Jensen

View from Ra'ed Qaqish's home. Queen Rania's home, before she was Queen, is in the center. 

Ra'ed's home is on the far north side of Amman, which makes it a 90 minute commute to the AUM campus. So he rented another house in Madaba for the four days of class per week, cutting his commute to about 15 minutes.

Expandable Family Homes: Families here don't buy and sell and move. Families own land for many generations and they don't sell it. We have never seen a "For Sale" sign on a residence or lot. Someone told me that land may be owned by 400-500 people, all cousins inheriting part of it. So homes and buildings are not built to speculate in 'good' neighborhoods, with the hope that the value will increase. They build because they own the property. We see mini palaces in some very squalid neighborhoods and multi-story apartment buildings all alone out in the country. They also build homes for the parents and the families of the several sons all together with the idea of future expansion going up. So they build with columns coming out of the roof and re-bar sticking out of the columns--just in case they expand. Not always, but very frequently. It's strange but maybe it makes sense. Their families are the most important thing to them. Very low interest in their community or nation but total loyalty to the clan, tribe or family.

This sounds good but it can go too far. The only crime we ever hear about is when there is a dispute between families or tribes. There have been a few fights and even killings involving tribal differences recently. They say people can tell exactly which town a family is from by the family name. Mostly the family structure is very positive and supportive and they see living together as an extended family the only way to go. Much different than the US.

Notice the columns at the roof for future expansion--someday. 

New home just north of us--separate units for the families of a father and his three sons. 

Thanks:
We appreciate those who have written and sent their greetings.  We are homesick for all of you--especially our children and grandkids. It's been a lifesaver to get the little photo's and letters. Thanks,