Adham Center Honors Siddiqi, Graduates

Zafar Siddiqi, chairman and CEO of CNBC Arabiya, the newest Arabic-language satellite channel to launch in the region, was guest of honor at this year's Adham Center Annual Awards Dinner, held to honor new Center graduates this past June.

Siddiqi was appointed Associate of the Center, an honorary faculty position, by Dean Amr Mortagy on the recommendation of Center director Abdallah Schleifer. Dean Mortagy noted that the launch of CNBC Arabiya was the culmination of a vision made possible by Siddiqi's combination of two successful careers-as a partner in KPMG Peat Marwick Group in the Middle East, and as chairman of Television Business Production, which produces programming for CDNBC, BBC, and other channels. In his response, Siddiqi welcomed the new graduates to the industry and expressed his confidence that their training would qualify them to make outstanding contributions to its development.

New graduates Badiaa Abou Khadra, Dina El Guindy, Lubna El Elaimy, Mohamed Bitar, and Nada El Mesallawy received from Dean Mortagy their master's degrees in television journalism and professional certificates for successful completion of Adham Center workshops in video journalism; Tamer Nasser Aly received his professional certificate. As the first class to complete an entire academic year of study and work in broadcasting in Arabic, the six also received a certificate in broadcast Arabic from AUC's Arabic Language Institute, presented by acting director Zeinab Ibrahim.

Azza Enanie, the Center's first postgraduate student of an experimental one-year program in television reporting, also received her diploma, while the Kamal Adham Award for Outstanding Performance went to the Center's student executive producer, Nada El Mesallawy.

Other industry and public figures on the dais with Siddiqi were Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, Louis Greiss, former editor in chief of Sabah al Khayr magazine, Ezzat El Shamy, editor in chief of Satellite Guide, and Hussein Amin, chairman of AUC's Journalism and Mass Communications department.

Welcoming guests, Center director Abdallah Schleifer first directed their attention to AdhamOnline's new website, reminding them that this provides a record of the Center's activities over the years, with thumbnail descriptions of what its staff and graduates have achieved, profiles of graduates in the news, and other stories.

By Humphrey Davies