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The Dean's
Message
First
of all, I would like to welcome you to the second issue of our
newsletter. I hope you will find the articles submitted
interesting and informative.
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I
am
pleased to inform you that, through our collective efforts, last
academic year was another successful one for the college filled
with significant achievements. Looking ahead, I am also excited
by the opportunities that await us. This year presents us with
new challenges and new goals to achieve. We will continue to
serve this community by offering our students an educational
experience of consistently high quality.
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Second,
let me go back to the beginning of this year and particularly to
the College Annual Meeting which always provides me with an
opportunity to communicate to you on the current status of the
college, to tell you about what lies ahead and to introduce new
faculty and staff. I will briefly go through some of the points
which I mentioned earlier this year and will repeat now.
Last
spring, a preliminary announcement was made regarding the
creation of a new center. Indeed, last summer semester, the
Strategic, Planning and Development Center was established in
the college under the management of Dr. Sam Al-Shazly who is
appointed as the Assist. Dean for Strategic, Planning and
Development. This center plans for the development of the
college and provides faculty members and staff with a platform
to exchange ideas, suggestions and/or proposals and work out
ways to implement them. Basically, this center promotes the
interests of the college in which teaching and learning come
first.
Second, Prof. Roustem Miftakow has been appointed as the
Assistant Dean for Scientific Research. He will be responsible
for any research done in our college and will work with you on
the details and the issues related to your research. I must say
that research is an integrated part of our curriculum and I do
encourage you to participate.
In every college meeting, I am always delighted to welcome and
introduce new faculty members who were present at the college
annual meeting and others who joined us later. Here is a list of the faculty members who
have recently joined us:
Ossama Fares (AEE)
Oliver Wayne (ELC)
Joe Lavasani (ELC)
Abdulhadi Balkhirat (MATH)
Hassan El-Oud (PHYS)
Mohammed Zubair (AMIS)
Javed Mazhar
(AMIS)
I had
the pleasure to meet with our new colleagues in my office and to
welcome them into the community and I wish them all a successful and a productive year.
Please join me in
welcoming them.
As it
has been the practice at the beginning of each academic year,
five college standing committees were formed in the college’s
Hall where faculty members voted and elected new members to
various committees. We started this practice two years ago
trying to be fair to everyone and to be able to show no
favoritism. These committees are now regularly meeting to
discuss issues aiming at improving educational experience at HCC
as well as other issues raised by members of the committee. As a
chairman of these committees, I have the pleasure to wish them
well for their commitment and willingness to take part in what
we, at Hail
Community College, value most – excellence in education.
Among
the visible changes, which you have certainly noticed, is the
construction of the wall around Mishar Compound and the
students’ parking lot which were both completed in September. New
projects are underway especially the building of new housing
units inside Mishar Compound. Negotiations with the owner of
Mishar are still taking place and a contract will be signed very
soon. This will enable us to accommodate all faculty members
in Mishar.
On a
personal note, I have recently met with H.R.H Prince Saud Bin
Abdul Mohsin, Governor of Hail, His Excellency the Minister of
Higher Education, Dr. Khaled Bin Mohammed Al-Angari, as well as
His Excellency the Rector of KFUPM, Dr. Khaled Bin Saleh
Al-Sultan and have discussed the college’s growth and its
present status as well as the move to the university status
which will of course bring in some changes and new challenges.
It has been a very enthusiastic and a productive meeting and we
were all confident that this region is growing rapidly and is
representing a large community; therefore, the need to establish
a university, which will contribute to the development of Hail
region, is not only beneficial to this area but to the whole
country. This is good news. Of course, one of the questions in
everyone’s mind is when this change is actually going to happen.
As I mentioned earlier in the College Annual Meeting, we are
expecting this to happen sometime next semester. Although there
is no specific date yet circled on the calendar, the
announcements will be made, inshaallah, very soon. I would like
to size this opportunity to convey to you the Prince’s “welcome
back” and his sincere appreciation of your hard work. I would
like also to communicate to you the Minister of Higher Education
as well as the Rector’s best wishes for this new academic year.
Finally, I can only think of these words to end my message with,
thank you so much for the hard work, dedication, and
understanding despite the many pressures you have experienced. I
wish you a happy, successful, and productive year.
Thank you,
Dr. Mohammed A. Al-Naafa
Dean, HCC
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