AUB honors Professor Samir Tabet with University Medal

The American University of Beirut’s most prestigious recognition, the University Medal, was conferred on Professor Samir Tabet in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and achievements, AUB said Monday in a statement.

The statement said that Tabet, AUB vice-president emeritus, former acting president, accomplished academic, and artist had received the University Medal during a ceremony held on July 7 at AUB’s Marquand House.

"Samir Tabet is an iconic figure in the history of the American University of Beirut. He held critical roles at AUB as an academic over more than 3 decades, as an outstanding professor of chemistry, an invaluable mentor, and as a leader. He served as provost and VP for academic affairs for a decade and a half when AUB badly needed his sound judgment, firm resolve and personal generosity," said AUB President Fadlo Khuri while conferring the university medal on him.

"Tabet's long and distinguished career at AUB was marked by many years of service in administration, several of them during difficult years for Lebanon and AUB," the statement said. He joined AUB in 1953 when he was appointed an assistant professor of chemistry. He held a number of leadership positions at AUB including associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as of 1969, acting dean (1969-1970), university provost (1970-1976), vice president for academic affairs (1977-1986), vice president emeritus effective 1988, as well as acting president in 1984. He also served as chairman of the Chemistry Department from 1955-56, and again from 1966-69.

Tabet published throughout his academic career a large number of articles in internationally refereed journals. "Extraordinarily versatile, he has served as president of the Beirut Rotary Club (1981) and as cultural advisor to the president of the republic (1987). He also took up the presidency of the Society of the Friends of the AUB Museum. Moving regularly between Paris and Lebanon, Dr. Tabet ardently pursues his life-long calling, painting. He is a fellow of the Paris Salon and has held in both Paris and Beirut numerous exhibitions, with proceeds that were donated to scholarship funds for students."

AUB added that a Beirut weekly, commenting on Tabet's 1995 exhibition at the Galerie Epreuve d'Artiste, said his still lifes constitute a genre in themselves. "Former colleagues see the influence of chemistry in his colors, the bright hues of inorganic irons animate his canvases. To his students as well as colleagues, he is known as a compelling teacher with a good sense of humor and a flair for an artistic approach in displaying chemical structures and equations," the statement went on to say.

AUB’s University Medal was created by the Board of Trustees in the spring of 1990 to be awarded periodically by the vote of the board to selected individuals in recognition of distinguished and meritorious service to the university. It is accompanied by a citation signed by the chairman of the Board and the president of the university.

Tabet is the first of three awardees of this year’s University Medals, with Trustee Emeritus Ali Ghandour and Professor Makhlouf Haddadin being the second and third, the statement said. The award will be offered to the family of the late business leader Ali Ghandour in September 2022, and to Professor Makhlouf Haddadin in October 2022.

Previous recipients of the University Medal were Rafic B. Hariri (1990, 1998), Constantine Zurayk (1991), Samir Makdisi (1998), Raja N. Khuri (2000), Suliman Olayan (2000), George Mitchell (2002), Paul Volcker (2002), Richard A. Debs (2005), Kamal A. Shair (2007), Nicola N. Khuri (2009), Thomas Q. Morris (2009), Ann Z. Kerr-Adams (2010), Etel Adnan (2017), Maroun Semaan (2017), Huguette Caland (2017), Farouk K. Jabre (2018), and Myrna Bustani (2019).