More than 3,000 alumni of The American University in Cairo (AUC) gathered at the university’s New Cairo campus for their Alumni Homecoming. The three-day event began with a luncheon for classes’ ’58, ’59, ’60, ’61 and ’62 and closed with a sports tournament and a gala dinner where distinguished alumni were recognized. At the opening ceremony, classes were grouped by decade, starting from the 1950s and a torch, carried from one end of AUC New Cairo’s Bartlett Plaza to the other, was relayed from alumni representing each decade to the end when it was handed to the university’s current Student Union President Omar Qandil.
Among the homecoming events were band and dance performances, including a live performance by superstar Hisham Abbas ’88, and performances by Mohamed Abaza ’05, Dina Labib ’10, and AUC student Ahmed Abdel Razik. There were programs for children, a raffle, alumni and student booths, campus tours and a sports tournament held on the campus athletics complex. There was also a lecture presented by Sherif Sedky, director of Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center on how nanotechnology affects our daily life.
A gala dinner marked the closing of celebrations, held in Moataz Al Alfi Hall accompanied by a live performance by AUC student Nesma Mahgoub. During the course of the evening, Distinguished Alumni Awards were distributed to Mostafa Mansour ’62 and ’65, director of research sciences, US Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU); Emad El Sewedy ’88, owner of El Sewedy Electrometer; and Karim Bichara ’97, CEO of LinkdotNet. The Alumni Distinguished Volunteer Award was given to Leila Saad ’66, founder of AUC’s Alumni Community Theater (ACT).
“I’m in tears, this homecoming brings back lots of wonderful memories”, said Hoda Ragab, who graduated from AUC in 1978 with an MA in Mass communications and an MBA in 1980. Ragab traveled to the event from California where she works as a project director for the Education and Development Department at Wyndham Worldwide Corporation. “I was keen on rescheduling my agenda in order to be able to attend this alumni reunion”, she said.
“Although I was attached to the old campus downtown, I think this campus is very different and impressive”, said Lama Hamroush, an AUC alumna and event supervisor at the Community Service Association. “I am really overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the spectacle of the campus,” she said.
The American University in Cairo (AUC) was founded 90 years ago and is major contributor to the social, political and cultural life of the Arab region. It is a vital bridge between East and West, linking Egypt and the region to the world through scholarly research, partnerships with academic and research institutions, and study abroad programs. An independent, nonprofit, apolitical, non-sectarian and equal opportunity institution, AUC is fully accredited in Egypt and the United States.
