DOHA: Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQatar) has admitted 104 students, of whom 60 percent are Qataris, to the new academic year. The remaining represent 37 nationalities.
Dean Dr Akel I Kahera, who began his tenure in July, welcomed new bachelor of fine arts and arts and master of fine arts students to campus.
The class brings the student population to 323 with 298 undergraduate (foundation, fashion, graphic and interior design, painting, printmaking and art history) and 14 graduate students.
VCUQatar is hosting two exchange students from home campus in Richmond, Virginia, and nine Education City cross-registered students.
Kahera joined VCUQatar after serving as associate dean, research and graduate studies, College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University. His research and teaching interests focus on history and theory; culture and aesthetics; sustainable design; urbanism and practices of culture and local knowledge; Islamic art and architecture; poetry; jazz; and the Foucauldian theory of space/power/knowledge. He received his PhD from Princeton University and degrees in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pratt Institute.
As VCUQatar enters its 18th year, the university strives to contribute to the vitality of human, social, economic and environmental development in Qatar and the region through creative innovation, expression and collaboration.
Its alumni are leaders in Qatar’s cultural and creative professions and participants in addressing global challenges identified as key to the region’s future. “In my role as Dean, my primary duties are to build a community of scholars, set direction and achieve a common purpose as defined in our mission and vision,” said Kahera. “In so doing, I remain committed to the proposition that VCUQatar is creative, critical, dynamic, curious and original.”The Peninsula
