AUS celebrates Class of Spring 2021

Students from American University of Sharjah’s (AUS) Spring 2021 graduating class have celebrated this week, marking the end of their studies with in-person recognition events and an online celebration that allowed students and their families to partake in the festivities from across the globe.

With physical distancing and health-related protocols in place, graduating students were welcomed to the AUS campus for a series of recognition events beginning on June 6, where they were congratulated by university representatives, including Professor Kevin Mitchell, Chancellor of AUS. Over the course of the week, 440 students participated in the on-campus events. All sessions were livestreamed to families and friends in the UAE and around the world.

Like other university classes graduating this spring, the AUS Class of Spring 2021 has shown remarkable resilience in completing their degrees during the global pandemic. Celebrations therefore honored students’ tenacity and ability to adapt to new circumstances—skills that will be of value to the graduates as they embark on new careers or continue their education.

The celebrations continued on Saturday, June 12, with the launch of the university’s online graduation celebration. This event commemorated the academic and extracurricular journey of all 657 Spring 2021 graduates, with congratulatory messages from the Chancellor and deans of the AUS colleges and school. The celebration also included special memories from some graduating students, along with messages from representatives of the graduating class, including Katia Kanakri, a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies graduate and recipient of the Sheikh Khalifa Scholarship. She said: “My time at AUS has shown me just how much I am capable of. I discovered a great deal about myself, my interests and my abilities. AUS completely exceeded my expectations, and I am so appreciative of it all.”

For Abdullah Alhajar, a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering graduate, his years at AUS have seen him undergo a personal and academic transformation. When he started his university journey, he was not sure of what he wanted to do. However, his experience at AUS has seen him become a published researcher, contributing to advanced research in water treatment, energy development, biomedical engineering and materials science

“I joined the university without a future plan, but now I am aware of what I want to do. My ultimate goal is to start up my business in cosmetics production,” Alhajar said. He also plans to pursue a PhD in chemical engineering.

The online celebration was published on a website especially created for the Spring 2021 graduating class: www.aus.edu/celebrating-our-graduates. As well as the celebratory video, the website contains success stories of individual graduating students and a celebration toolkit, containing items to help students share their achievements with their social media followers.

The Spring 2021 graduation marks a special milestone for AUS, with the university’s first PhD students completing their degrees. Mustafa Al-Tekreeti, Hasan Mahmoud and Taha Anjamrooz have all undertaken doctoral degrees from the Engineering Systems Management (PhD-ESM) program of the College of Engineering. During a special ceremony, each student received the traditional doctoral hood from their faculty supervisor, marking the transition from student to colleague.

Chancellor Mitchell said: “We are very proud of the graduating class of Spring 2021 and pleased that we could welcome them back to campus to celebrate their accomplishments. We are also looking forward to events that will recognize previous graduating classes that were unable to attend a ceremony due to the pandemic. The graduates join the many AUS alumni who are contributing to making the world better.”   

The graduates by college/school for Spring 2021 are as follows:

College of Architecture, Art and Design: 96

College of Arts and Sciences: 96

College of Engineering: 298

School of Business Administration: 167