New Faces

New Faces
Sep 10, 2001, 3:37am

Dr. Arthur H. Charles, Jr.

There are at least two new faces worth special notice at I.C. this September. One is I.C.’s new president, Dr. Arthur H. Charles, Jr. The other is the outside of Sage Hall.

Every year since his Mom sent him off to first grade, our new president has been getting the jitters from the excitement of the first day of a new school year. This has been the case for nearly half a century now.

Dr. Charles comes to I.C. with a long and varied history in educational administration. He has worked in international schools in India, Switzerland, Ecuador and Bulgaria. In the U.S. he has worked in both public and independent schools wearing many different hats as teacher, administrator, sports coach and counselor.

His graduate and undergraduate education, in French and linguistics, was completed at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. After university he began as a French and ESL teacher with a yearning for travel. He combined his love of education with travel in his first overseas post in New Delhi and has had the gift of joy and satisfaction in his work ever since.

Dr. Charles refers to his style of administration as an “open door” policy designed to keep him in personal contact with students and teachers as well as the rest of the I.C. administration. He says he feels fortunate to have inherited the staff for the President’s Office he describes as competent and enthusiastic. They are Mrs. Afaf Tabanji as Administrative Assistant, Hanan Loulou, Executive Secretary and Ali Zaarour, Clerk.

Mrs.Tabanji has been with the I.C. family for forty-three years. She began in the Business Office and recalls the machine she operated as part of her duties then. It was as large as the entire top of the desk where she sits today. It was powered manually with interchangeable bars for each of its functions. Mrs. Tabanji has had many different responsibilities during her I.C. career. For some time now she has managed the operation of the President’s office where she is still counted on, as always, for the job well done.

Hanan leads the busy life of working mother with two children. Her AUB degree in public administration left her well prepared for her work at I.C. where she says she is still a newcomer with three years of service.

Bicycling to work is no problem for Ali who also rides for sport. He enjoys biking because “you don’t have to wait” in traffic jams. Ali also continues to study English and computers while he looks forward to the time he’ll spend working with Dr. Charles.

SAGE HALL REFRESHED

Sage Hall Entrance

According to the information Mr. Samer Makarem has, as Physical Plant Superintendent, most of the buildings on the Ras Beirut campus were built between 1911 and 1913. The construction material used for the buildings from that period is Shimlan stone, a soft and porous substance.

Sage Hall

Sage Hall was showing its age. A decision was made to clean the exterior. Mr. Makarem chose a wash combining water and sand under high pressure to remove accumulated dirt. The water in this system avoids dust inside the building. Sage is now a new shade of white. After the power-wash, the mortar between the stones needs to be reinforced, or rechinked, with new mortar. The final step of the process uses a special tool to chip away the most stubborn stains.

Mr. Samer Makarem on the Rockefeller Hall entrance balcony

Another improvement made over the summer was the repair of the damaged rail at the front of the entrance balcony on Rockefeller Hall.