Great People, Great Facilities

For any enterprise to be successful, you need to have good people working on it.  Throughout my entire visit to Abu Dhabi, I was continually impressed with the quality of the people we have as colleagues at our campus there.  All of the professors that I met, from the gentle and thoughtful Polish math professor, Mirek Majewski, to the British ELI teacher, Linda Graham, to the larger-than-life Physics Professor, Kamal Al Achrafi (just to name a few), were caring teachers, energetic faculty members, and enthusiastic members of NYiT Abu Dhabi.

But enterprises such as an institute of technology also need great facilities.  Fortunately for our students in Abu Dhabi, they have these.  Every classroom in Abu Dhabi is a modern “smartclassroom” as shown in the picture to the right.  These are not simply computers projecting onto screens, but rather interactive smartboards with “touch” manipulation of the computer through the board itself.  In addition, some of the rooms have computer stations for students.  I dat in on a class in one of these rooms with Professor Peter Karagianakis who made very inventive and effective use of this technology in his speech class.

The overall impression I got from Abu Dhabi is one of great optimism.  With the accreditation process behind them and a new student recruitment process about to begin, everyone is excited about the potential for growth that the campus promises.

Enough for now…back to grading my stateside students on one of my few “slow” days on this trip

Your “Tramp Abroad”

 

Sultry Nights and Dining

While it may be cold and rainy in NY, Abu Dhabi is just easing out of the unbelievable heat of summer and into a temperature range a little more tolerable…think July in Florida and you get a sense of the “cooler” temperatures of November in Abu Dhabi.

Not surprisingly, most outdoor activity is scheduled at night, including outdoor dining. The photo above is of the outdoor cafe/barbeque attached to the hotel.  Abu Dhabi is a very popular vacation destination for many in Europe and Australia and so there were almost as many languages being spoken at this cafe as there were tables.  You also found a great many “hooka pipes” being smoked.  The cost was pretty steep, but one pipe, loaded ith fruit flavored tobaco and burning coals at the top, could have up to four tubes and mouth pieces for people at a table to share.

.The food here was excellent.  Essentially, a wide variety of meats are grilled over wood fires out back and brought into the building in the photo to the right under the Foster’s sign (remember, a great many Aussies here).  You then went back to the line as often as you liked to take what you wanted.  While it was certainly warmer than I am comfortable with, it was nice to get outside for a bit and sit back.

 

Abu Dhabi: Always in Bloom

After having left the rather wet and chilly weather of NY, one of the things tthat struck me walking around the NYiT Campus here are the beautiful flowers just about everywhere.  Without a real winter, the campus is always in bloom and most of the pathways are lined with flowering bushes like this one.

 

My first full day at our campus was a very busy but very enjoyable one.  It was good to meet new colleagues and re-connect with others.  Everyone has been especially welcoming and helpful and the faculty are exceptional in their concern and efforts with the students.

Today I have another full day of meeting faculty and administrators, and then its back to the hotel to pack.  My flight is early tomorrow and it will be off to Bahrain.  The weekends in the ME are Friday and Saturday.  Since I will be arriving on a Friday, I hope to get caught up on blog entries and posting photos that I have taken.

More to come

 

 

Goodbye New York!

NY Skyline before boarding the plane

Well, I’m a little late making this first post, but since technology access has expanded, many things that used to be free just aren’t anymore.  The last time I traveled to the ME, I had free access to the internet from the waiting lounge before my flight and could start my blogging there.  Not now.

So, while I have been taking pictures and doing a great deal of traveling the last few days, this is the first time I have had to upload a photo or two and update the blog.  The picture is from the lounge before our departure, so that would be Monday night.  That evening, I flew 6 hours to Paris, waited 5 hours for my connecting flight, and then flew another 7 and a 1/2 hours to Abu Dhabi.  Needless to say, I was pretty tired after that trip.

However, I have made it and will be posting more in the days to come.

 

Emirates Palace Hotel

The Palace Hotel

Originally uploaded by phdquig.

It has been just about 2 years and 10 months since my last trip to our Middle East campuses. Today, I’ll be leaving for another trip to meet with our colleagues in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Amman Jordan. I am looking forward to seeing the campuses and re-connecting with colleagues. I am NOT looking forward to the flight, but until we figure out a viable teleport machine, I guess its a long flight and a great deal of reading.

I took the picture to the left on my last trip to Abu Dhabi. This is the Emirates Palace Hotel…I am NOT staying here. I think I would get lost trying to find the front door! Anyway, I will be posting to this blog throughout the trip. Please keep looking for updates as I visit NYiT’s three campuses.

 

Home Again, Naturally

Waterfront in Abu Dhabi

Originally uploaded by phdquig.

Well, after one last somewhat harrowing failed attempt to get back to NY, I am now sitting in my rather drafty OW office and looking back on the rather “warm” pictures of the last leg of my journey to Abu Dhabi. Again, if you click on any one picture, you’ll get to my flickr site and be able to see them all.

It was an amazing trip, filled with great memories, new friends, and great stories to tell. Since I am trying desperately to catch up with all that I missed while away, I will perhaps save the “stories” for later blog entries. For now, please enjoy the rest of the slides…

 

Of Colleges, Colleagues, and “All that Jazz!”

Last night, several of the faculty here in Bahrain invited me out to a club to listen to one of our own faculty in the School of Management on the sax.  It was a delightful evening of good food and drink, and great conversation. 

One thing that has stuck me about our still young campuses here in the ME is the collegiality of the faculty.   I have always believed that those who work at colleges should be collegial.  It is interesting those, put into a very new academic setting without any previous “politics” or “baggage”, faculty instinctively find each other and quickly begin to see themselves as a closely knit “faculty.”  They are a relatively small group who all get along, socialize after work, and provide each other with a great deal of support, new ideas, and a very international perspective on topics as varied as student learning styles and cultural attitudes about smoking.  The sax playing faculty is a young Belgian engaged to one of our ELI instructors who is Turkish.  We were joined that night from another School of management faculty from Tennessee and my colleague in English from Texas.  Today, I will also be meeting with one of our Physics/Math faculty here who is from Spain.   In many ways, we are already building a real “global” faculty for these campuses, one in which faculty from all over the world are being attracted to teach at NYiT, regardless of its location.

 

Time of change, time of growth

Newly finished addition

Originally uploaded by phdquig.

I debated for some time which photo I would use to start this blog entry and finally settled on this one. It is not the most novel (a common image from much of our promotional material available here,) nor is it as “exotic” as some of the other photos I took yesterday, particularly the one of the main mosque in Bahrain.

What is does represent, however, is the sense of change and growth of these overseas campuses. The third floor of the building…the one at the same height as the NYiT logo, is brand new. It was built in less than 3 months. In a similar fashion, the student body is quickly growingin number. I have no exact figures, but on what is considered a slow day in Bahrain (the weekend here is Friday and Saturday, so Thursday is like our NY campus Friday as far as activity is concerned) the campus was still full of students, strolling through the campus quad or playing Foosball in the coffee shop.

And as these campuses grow, the administrative structures to help keep up with the increased student body are also undergoing rapid and important changes. One of the things I had been asked to think about on this trip is global communication. How can we make it easier for all parts of the NYiT family to study, work, and develop together. I have seen much that points to this need. When I met with students in the coffee shop, many of them asked about how, in detail, they might attend NYiT in NY for a semester or a year. But these questions all had to do with visas, eligibility for financial aid, etc. Faculty have constant questions about NYiT courses…not on what or how to teach these, but additional resources or experiences that our faculty in NY might share with them. Likewise, I am learning many new approaches (primarily related to education technology) that our faculty here have developed.

This post seems to have become a little too “philosophical” for a travel journal written by a “Tramp.” I am heading off to lunch with the CAS coordinators and will post later tonight about the more “recreational” side of my journey then…you see, there was this really neat jazz club, and…well, that’ll be the next post.

Your Tramp Abroad.

 

Bahrain at Night

Bahrain at NightOriginally uploaded by phdquig.

My first night in Bahrain has been a very friendly and fast paced one. I was greeted at the airport by an airport representative and ushered into a very lavish waiting room. Dr. Christine and Hussein, the NYiT Public Relations person in Bahrain, were waiting and we sat and chatted while someone got my luggage. (I have to tell you, being a New Yorker who is used to doing things for himself, this wonderful attentiveness to guests is a little difficult to get used to. I keep wanting to say, “Oh, don’t worry, I can do it…no please, really, I can find the luggage..its got a little red ribbon so I’ll just go with you and,…no? really? Well, OK…” At first I thought my reaction stemmed from an Emersonian american tradition of self-reliance, and certainly that is a part of it. However, I am starting to think about the degree of hospitality that appears common in this part of the world and is, how shall we say, less prevelant in the US. Yes, I do feel a little guilty when I sit on a comfortable couch with something cold to drink while someone else gets my luggage. But it was also very nice to be able to relax and “slow down” for ten minutes after the normal “hustle and bustle” of a day of air travel. How much more relaxed and friendly would JFK be if those arriving were given ten minutes to relax and catch a breath after coming off the plane.

As we were driving to the hotel, Christine and Hussein mentioned that there was a significant PR event for NYiT that evening and I was invited to attend. So, after checking in at about 6:45 p.m. Bahrain time, I dashed up to the room, pulled a suit from the luggage, freshened up, and was off to a wonderful evening at which the new 2007 ad campaing for NYiT Bahrain was launched, complete with a countdown and a shower of confetti. It also gave me a chance to meet many of our colleagues here in Bahrain in a very short time. I have been universally greeted with warmth and great interest in my own experiences at our NY campuses.

Well, that’s about all for now. Keeping my little tradition alive, I took a photo from my hotel room on my first night here. Don’t worry, Roger, the camera is still safe and will be coming with me to the campus. I’m sure I’ll have far more photos for all to look at by the end of the day.

Your Tramp Abroad…

 

Last Night In Amman

I have just finished a very busy but rewarding two days in Amman, topped off by a wonderful dinner in a traditional mid-east restaurant at the center of a very Modern and American shopping mall, called, The Mecca Mall!

Yesterday, I arrived at the campus and was greeted with a freshly brewed cup of Turkish coffee.  This appears to be the normal practice here, and I believe I’m getting spoiled with the attention (and the coffee…more on coffee in a bit.)  I ran a two hour workshop for the English faculty and ELI staff.  After reviewing the departmental guidelines for the writing courses, I demonstrated some of the really interesting Web 2.0 applications I have been toying with and talked about ways these might be used to enhance student writing.

Afterwards, I spoke with representatives of the Student Life Organization.  After our introductions we had a wonderful and frank discussion of cultural misconceoptions that exist on both sides of the world, and ways in which our global efforts in Amman could help to overcome these.

That evening, I was treated to a wonderful dinner at the hotel with Dean Theo and all the coordinators and directors that could make it.  We had a wonderful conversation and meal, but I did decline their offer of having a huka pipe brought over for the table to finish the meal off.

Today, I held a second workshop…this one opened to all faculty.  The pictures to the right are of our colleagues that attended the session.  Again, if you are just joining the blog, you can click on any of the pictures and see all the photos I have taken on the trip as a slide show.  After reviewing some of the templates and documents available to our faculty on the school web site, I again talked with them about Web 2.0 software that they might use to enhance their classes.  And, since I couldn’t sleep well last night (now here’s where the coffee reference comes in.  Everyone has coffee or tea at any hour of the day.  Also, while our waiter seemed to speak perfectly acceptable English, he looked utterly confused when I used the word decaf.   The coffee here is very potent…even the American coffee) I decided to try out a new Web 2.0 site called diigo.  It is a wonderful tool for collecting, organizing, and annotating any information you find on the web, and then sharing it with others. 

This evening I have to pack.  Tomorrow I will sit in on a few classes and then depart for the airport at 1.  Flight is at 3 and I’ll be in Bahrain at 6:30.  I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog as my schedule there is unclear at the moment.  But keep checking back and let others know about this site.

You Tramp Abroad