Newsletter - January 2023

New Year's Resolutions

In Kurdistan, the more widely celebrated "New Year" comes with the vernal equinox in late March, but the changeover of the calendar from 2022 to 2023 can be an occasion, as it is in much of the rest of the world, to make some resolutions on how to change one's life in the forthcoming twelve months. Some employees of the American University of Kurdistan have decided to share their own "New Year's resolutions" on how they plan to be better or do more in 2023. The resolutions are organized by alphabetical order of the last name. It is no accident that there are 23 of them…

Jiyar Aghapouri, International Studies/CPHS: “I want to do all I can to help CPHS get grants for research and training so we can get students and the community even more involved in the university. Personally, I have two pending publications that I need to make minor edits to soon, in order to get them published as early in 2023 as possible.”

Fatima Ahmed, Student: “I would like to carry out random acts of kindness with no expectation of reward."

Gulan Ahmed, Library: “My New Year's resolution is to convert the library space into a safe space for those who seek a place to belong.”

Zaina Aladham, Human Resources: “I came from Jordan, and there the women are ordinarily more ambitious and assertive. I want to convince more of the young women at AUK to hold off on marriage and achieve more for themselves before getting married.”

Peter Almissouri, Student Affairs: “To do even more of what we can to improve the job market and employability in Kurdistan.”

Dalar Al-Qasem, Student: “My resolution for 2023 is I want to improve my skills for my career and make my family and friends proud.”

Michael Collins, Content Writer: “I resolve to learn more Kurdish words that I can connect to words in other languages. I was surprised that Kurdish for “thank you,” supas, sounds just like a shortened form of the word that means “thank you” in Russian, spasibo (Спаси́бо). I was further stunned that bale is Kurdish for “okay,” since the virtually identical-sounding vale in Spanish also means “okay.” And I couldn’t resist telling AUK’s favorite photographer, Kawa, that his name is the same as the Japanese word for “river” (川).

Kyle Foster, CAPA: “I want to be part of CAPA’s ongoing and continually improving efforts at community outreach. I want to run even more for my health.”

Loucine Hayes, CAPA: “I want to launch a ‘Drop Everything and Read’ campaign.”

Thomas Hayes, General Education: “My New Year's resolution for 2023 is to prepare AUK for the launch of its new radio station in the Fall of next year. This an exciting project that will greatly enhance the university's profile and help us get the message out about all the great things that everyone does here to make AUK the best university in Kurdistan. One important thing we need to do in the Spring to get ready for the radio station is to begin training a cadre of students who can work in the station. So, that's why we will be offering courses in both broadcast journalism and photo and video editing and production next semester. I am looking forward to working with our students to make those courses a success.”

Asadul Hoque, College of Business: “Achieve better work-life balance, rebuild professional relationships, continually learn, keep up my hard work for the success of AUK, be honest with myself, public academic research papers, and focus on interactive teaching.”

Halmat Kestai, Communications: “I have 3 jobs. Outside of AUK, I am also a translator and a columnist. I want to quit my other jobs to focus on AUK and my family.”

Rozan Khalid, Student: “Work harder, give more, and make people laugh more.”

Dilovan Matini, Student: “Trying to write a book for the first time would be a stimulating and challenging way to start the year.”

Joanna Nazar, Communications: “I hope to design something for the interior of the building. Design creates culture.”

Aram Omar, Student: “I want to exercise more and learn Assyrian.”

Khedir Ramazan, College of Arts and Sciences: “My personal resolutions are: reading more, traveling more, learning how to play the piano, following a healthy diet, and enjoying life to the fullest. My professional resolutions are: improving the recruitment process for students and faculty, emphasizing the accreditation process, making the AUK learning environment even better, improving quality of teaching material, and fostering quality research.”

Randall Rhodes, AUK President: “My resolution is to dedicate more time and effort in pursuing happiness. In today's world, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the darkness and challenges that surround us. It is important to find ways to recognize and celebrate the bright and joyous moments, and if they can't be found, then manufacture them.”

Sahar Saleem, Student: “1—Travel more often; 2—Reduce stress; 3—Meditate every day; 4—Focus less on others’ opinions.”

Yelena Sardaryan, Student Affairs: “Through the establishment of extended student services and counseling, turn vulnerabilities into strengths and encourage students to challenge themselves more.”

Ali Shinwari, OIEP/CSIT: “I want to leave a positive legacy at AUK this year.”

Sinbl Yakoob, College of Business: “I wish to help all my students in the AUK College of Business get more comfortable giving presentations. I also want to help them with their overall soft skills.”

Sobar Yasin, Human Resources: “Our hope is to make AUK a better-known institution in the region and the world so we can receive stronger pools of candidates for all openings, in 2023 and beyond. It has been a struggle for the past few years because of COVID and the travel restrictions it caused.”

First Full Year of CAPA’s “Model School” Initiative

Last summer, the Center for Academic and Professional Advancement (CAPA) concluded a two-year agreement with Semeel’s Hafid School, whereby it would become the pilot institution for CAPA’s “Model School” initiative. Through this initiative, CAPA hopes to bring instruction in more local schools in line with international, research-based “best practices.” This modernization of approaches will involve more hands-on activities, a greater variety of courses, and more student-centered instruction, and it should graduate students better prepared for the rigors of study at universities and employment in the 21st century. CAPA put on workshops at Hafid School in October, November, and December of 2022, but 2023 will be the first full year of the “Model School” initiative. With the oversight of CAPA, Hafid School is set to be a laboratory for novel educational approaches throughout 2023.

Poetry at Work Day for 2023

“Poetry at Work” is an annual observance on the second Tuesday of January, which fell this year on January 10. It is meant to enliven the work day, encouraging people to see the “poetry in motion” all around them in their workspaces and express their thoughts in poems of their own. Poetry at Work Day was officially recognized in the AUK Library, and, to mark the occasion, the AUK Library’s social media channels broadcast poems in all three of the community’s main languages: English, Kurdish, and Arabic. When asked about the importance of Poetry at Work Day, AUK Library Director Gulan Ahmed said: “Our everyday work needs to have a touch added, and poetry helps people to discover who they are and to stay in tune with their thoughts and feelings.”

For social media, library staff recorded Content Writer Michael Collins reading an original acrostic poem about the library itself, “AUK Library,” which you can see below:

Another ordinary day at university can be made to feel different with the right book.

Utilize fully this wonderful educational area, giving every section its deserved look.

Kurdish history, arts, sciences — there is information in almost every nanny and crook.

Lounge in one of the comfortable chairs,

In a world presented to you by a book briefly turning from life’s cares.

Become the best version of yourself, by studying hard.

Raise your chance of success so it is no longer random, as when drawing a card.

AUK offers to staff and students this sprawling space in which to learn,

Redoubling their opportunities for the future to prosper and to earn.

You should visit the library, increasing your knowledge while decreasing your concern.

“Entrepreneurship in Duhok” Panel Discussion

On January 10, the AUK Auditorium hosted a panel discussion, “Entrepreneurship in Duhok.” Five-One Labs is an organization cooperating with AUK on incubating local entrepreneurship, and this cooperation was made possible through a United States Department of State Grant titled “Support to American-Style Higher Education in Iraq.” Awaz Saeed Shawkat of Five-One Labs was the moderator for the event. She directed questions (of her own and of the audience’s) to three young, successful entrepreneurs of Iraqi Kurdistan: Mr. Bayar Aziz, Ms. Gilan Sharafani, and Mr. Hiwa Ahmed. The three entrepreneurs are experienced in banking, beauty, and building, respectively, and they all gave concrete, measured responses. They together pointed to formal education, real-world experience, and a creative and daring mindset as the key ingredients for entrepreneurship in Duhok and elsewhere.

AUK Spring Semester 2023 New Student Orientation

On January 12, the last weekday before the start of academic classes at AUK, the Office of Student Affairs held an orientation session. The orientation was by design a multifaceted affair, with a campus tour, a presentation of university expectations and services, a group photo, and recreation all programmed into the schedule. The students receiving the orientation were mixed: some being completely new to AUK for the Spring 2023 semester, others having started Fall 2023 semester courses late and thus having missed the last orientation session, some slated to study with CAPA, others set for academic classes. Now, the new students can expect the best from AUK, and AUK, in turn, expects the best from them!

AUK Student… and Published Author

AUK junior Omran Omar started writing poetry years ago, and he is now officially a published one. On January 12, his book of 59 poems, Reflection, was published, with an initial run of 750 copies. It is now available at select stores in Erbil, Duhok, Zakho, and Slemani. The poems inside deal with many aspects of his “reflections” on the world and life in general, but the author names “love, pain, and longing” as the collection’s main themes.

Memorandum of Understanding between AUK and Duhok Directorate General of Health

On January 16, AUK President Randall Rhodes and AUK Chief Nursing Administrator Dr. Jervy Bernardino welcomed representatives from the Duhok Directorate General of Health to the AUK campus. The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining a mutually beneficial relationship, whereby AUK College of Nursing students could experience a practicum at a Duhok Directorate General of Health facility and the facility could benefit from the work of AUK nursing students and the faculty overseeing them. It is, in effect, the sharing of resources, with AUK benefitting from the physical plant and live patients of the Duhok Directorate General of Health and the directorate benefitting from the human resources being supplied by one of the region’s best universities. Due to this MoU, student outcomes and patient outcomes in Duhok both stand to improve.

Five-One Labs Offering Entrepreneurship Workshops for AUK Students

Young entrepreneurs at AUK have been learning how best to start, manage, and market new businesses through workshops with the Five-One Labs organization, made available through a United States Department of State Grant titled “Support to American-Style Higher Education in Iraq.” These workshops belong to the “Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program: From Students to Entrepreneurs,” and they are now in their second stage, termed “incubation.” Awaz Saeed Shawkat of Five-One Labs, the same woman who had served as moderator for January 10’s panel discussion, led one such workshop in the AUK Exam Hall on January 24. Approximately 15 AUK students interested in entrepreneurship participated actively in this workshop, asking and answering questions. The workshop was conducted largely in English, with some concessions to Kurdish. This is the optimal approach, to help the students advance in their command of both of the languages and in reflection of market needs (in that they are likely to launch businesses in an environment in which Kurdish is spoken but to expand those businesses they will need to know English).

The topic of this particular workshop was “Intro to UI,” and it centered on ten rules for building an effective user interface for customer-facing applications. The ten rules were: 1. “Visibility of system status”; 2. “Match your system with the real world”; 3. “User control and freedom”; 4. “Consistency and standards”; 5. “Error prevention”; 6. “Recognition rather than recall”; 7. “Flexibility and efficiency of use”; 8. “Aesthetic and minimalist design” (which a student astutely paraphrased as “Less is more”); 9. “Help users recognize, diagnose, recover from errors”; and 10. “Help and documentation.”

The setup was the time-tested educational approach of “first theory, then practice.” After Ms. Shawkat went through the 10 rules in an interactive manner, so as to lay down the “theory,” students got their “practice” through activities. The most beneficial “practice” of all may come in just a year or two, when some of them open their own businesses in Kurdistan.

CAPAx

On January 29, the second annual CAPAx event emanated from the AUK Auditorium. There were ten speakers on seven different topics; all of the speakers were CAPA students – hence, the name of the event. They spoke on a number of important issues facing Duhok and Kurdistan as a whole, relating to the environment, to society, and to the economy, and they all faced probing questions from a panel of four judges. The atmosphere was highly positive, but the event ultimately was a contest, with one of the seven “talks” being named the best.

The winning presentation was by Areen Omer, who spoke persuasively of the need for more people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) to buy local produce. Is it ludicrous that the KRI produces roughly the same number of cucumbers as the entire country of Turkey but there is still so much disorganization and distrust of local produce that the KRI ends up importing some cucumbers from Turkey? Is it a crying shame that KRI growers recently destroyed untold kilos of fresh tomatoes because they could not convince local people to buy them? Areen Omer thinks so, and she got the judges and the audience to do the same.

Meet Fatima Satar Ahmed

Senior Student, College of Arts and Sciences

Although I'm not a tech tycoon or a famous serial inventor, I have a fair amount of business expertise. Since April 2022, I've been a co-founder of Lelav, a Duhok-based provider of software solutions. Currently, I am the Executive Director at Lelav and a Requirements Analyst, while remaining a full-time student.

Being an entrepreneur while attending school has offered me many tangible and intangible advantages and rewarding possibilities. I firmly believe that there is no better time than when you are a student to launch a business.

The mindset that comes with being a student entrepreneur is its most important asset. Students who start their own businesses have a tendency to bounce back from failures fast, a desire for innovation, and the will to aim high. These characteristics make student entrepreneurs important assets to their future companies and the community at large. They are essential in today's environment. Therefore, I advise my fellow students to start their own businesses if they have the drive to do so.