From Village to Presidential Suite

Book excerpt: I did not intend to write a scholarly book, for I did not want to intellectualize my life. Nor did I wish to romanticize it. I wanted to describe it as I lived it, with emphasis on people. I wanted to express in this book the joy I experienced in giving generously of myself, my time, and my modest material possessions, to make others happy and to share the many gifts of life. I wanted also to share with those who aspire to become academic leaders the myriad lessons my upbringing, education, and professional life have taught me. I thought they might find these lessons learned useful, as they strive for successful careers and, more importantly, for rewarding personal and professional lives. Again, this book is a story, the story of my life, wherein the personal and the professional have intermingled and strengthened each other, making a better whole of my person, personality, aspirations, and talents. This unique alliance between the professional and the personal dimensions of my life, I am happy to say, always triumphed and accounted for the successes that so many good people helped me achieve. Without the guidance, advice, cooperation, and support of others, I am sure my life would not have been as fulfilling. Dr. Jabbra did govern this impossible republic, delivering transformative change to LAU in the process.” “Dr. Jabbra restored our mission.” Philip Stoltzfus, Chairman, LAU Board of Trustees “How does one know one has lived a full life? This is a question that preoccupies all of us at one time or another, but at a simple level we can say, “through the evidence of our actions and our relationships with others.” The pages of this memoir bear witness to Dr. Jabbra’s achievements, from his successful terms as Provost at St. Mary’s and Loyola Marymount, to his crowning moment as President of LAU. But much of the magic of this book lies in its descriptions of his friendships and interactions throughout his life, from the early days in his family village of al-Firzul to his school experiences at Harissa and St. Joseph, and the eventual passage to the United States, armed with Arabic, French, Latin and Greek, but no English. Then on to his life in America and Canada, and the rich relationships he formed with so many in that extraordinary phenomenon that is the Lebanese diaspora. After seeing an early draft of this memoir, I urged Dr. Jabbra to relate the day-to-day experiences he had in running LAU in the semichaotic atmosphere that prevails even in the best of times in Lebanon. I knew how vivid some of these moments were, having shared many with him, and he has captured that time beautifully, although I wish he had included a particularly hairy moment he and I once had, from which we were fortunate to emerge unscathed.” Philip Stoltzfus, Chairman, LAU Board of Trustees September 2021 My tamed ego was my friend and not my enemy, my wise advisor but not my dictator. Forgiveness, instead of retaliation, was my motto. Integrity and the highest ethical standards defeated, hands down, my detractors at the governing boards of any institution I served. My leveling with people, working together with them, and my honesty were invincible weapons and very difficult to resist or defeat. The realization on the part of the three university families I served, in Canada, the United States, and Lebanon, that I had a unique combination of genuine caring for people and a will of steel to defend the institution I was working for against any abuse, won me the people’s respect, not their fear, their genuine affection and trust. And this is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. My transformative tenures at SMU, LMU, and LAU were strengthened by their remarkable families. They believed in the mission of their respective universities, they pulled ranks together, and together they transformed them from ordinary colleges to major forces in higher education, and they did it with indomitable drive, exemplary grace, unique pride, and contagious passion.” Dr Joseph Jabbra, From Village to Presidential Suite: My Life’s Journey, 2022, pg 687, In Conclusions and Lessons learned, Beirut, Hachette Antoine.