Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Associate Provost for Global Learning Elise Salem has accepted a new position in Lebanon. Beginning July 1, Elise will be the vice president for student development and enrollment management at the Lebanese American University, which has campuses in Beirut and Byblos. Her primary responsibilities will include developing a comprehensive enrollment management plan and leading and modernizing all student services programs, as well as assisting the president in all matters relating to student enrollment, recruitment and retention.

This is a tremendous opportunity for Elise to return to her native land and to be close to her family. She grew up in Lebanon and is a graduate of the American University in Beirut. To ensure a smooth transition, Elise will remain in her position through this semester. I’m sure you will join me in congratulating Elise and wishing her great success as she returns home.

An award-winning teacher, Elise joined FDU’s Becton College in 1989 and introduced new courses in world and Nobel literature. In addition to her book, Constructing Lebanon: A Century of Literary Narratives, Elise edited a volume of The Literary Review on Lebanese literature and published many book chapters, articles and reviews. She later branched into administrative roles, including serving as assistant dean of academic planning at Becton College, where she helped internationalize the curriculum, revised the general education requirements and introduced new minors. She also was co-chair of both the University’s ACE Internationalization Laboratory Team and the Internationalization Strategic Planning Group.

Since being appointed associate provost for global learning in 2005, Elise has led the continued integration of global education throughout the institution. Among her many accomplishments include strengthening the Global Virtual Faculty program, increasing U.N.-related activities, creating FDU Study Abroad with more staffing and programming, enhancing coordination with faculty through new advisory groups in all four colleges and building student involvement, including the development of student internship programs. Elise also produced the historic conference on human rights and conflict resolution in 2006 and related programs stemming from that event. Most recently, Elise has introduced the new and more interactive version of the Global Issues Gateway (GIG) Web site (www.gig.org), which now includes an online scholarly journal and an online forum to virtually connect FDU classrooms with others around the world.

We thank you Elise, and we will miss you!

Michael Adams