Dean Kraidy renews commitment to excellence and community at annual Colloquium

Northwestern University in Qatar marked the start of the 2025–26 academic year with its annual faculty and staff colloquium, where Dean and CEO Marwan M. Kraidy delivered the keynote address. With this year marking the start of his second term, Dean Kraidy reflected on the theme of renewal, setting the tone for the year ahead and reaffirming the institution’s guiding principles.
 
“Last year I spoke about beginnings, and since every beginning is also a renewal, today I want to speak about renewal,” he said. “The dictionary tells us that renewal is to make ‘something new, fresh, or strong again,’ or to ‘extend the validity or effectiveness of something.’
 
Kraidy went on to outline three “bedrock principles” that he pledged to carry forward in his second term: One Institution, Three Campuses; Forging a Truly Distinctive Institution; and Living and Working According to Core Values.
 
The first principle, “One Institution, Three Campuses,” emphasizes the school’s integral role within Northwestern University. “No more trunk and branch, no more headquarters and outposts; just one university, twelve schools, three campuses,” he said, highlighting ongoing efforts to harmonize values and systems across Northwestern and to strengthen collaboration with colleagues in Evanston and Chicago.
 
Kraidy’s second principle, “Forging a Truly Distinctive Institution,” underscored the school’s unique contributions to the global university community. “We make unique and distinctive contributions that enrich the university and broaden its reach,” he said. He reiterated his vision of Northwestern Qatar as “a community of evidence-based storytellers focused on the Global South,” combining U.S. liberal arts traditions with professional media training to create a distinctive academic experience.
 
The third principle centers on the school’s core values: excellence, collaboration, community, and sustainability. Kraidy stressed that these values “are distinct, but once activated together, they deepen and amplify one another.”
 
He linked each to achievements and challenges from the past year, celebrating faculty publications, films, and awards as examples of excellence, acknowledging the cross-departmental teamwork behind last year’s graduation ceremony as a model of collaboration, and recognizing staff who ensured safety during the June security incident in Doha as a testament to community. Sustainability, he added, was visible in the behind-the-scenes efforts of admissions, HR, IT, and facilities staff who ensured a smooth transition into the new academic year.

The event also welcomed new faculty and staff, with Kraidy reminding them of the community they are joining. “We are committed to the growth of the whole person,” he said. “We speak with our true and authentic voice to all our constituents—in Qatar and in the U.S., in Arabic or in English.”
 
In his closing remarks, Kraidy spoke of the renewal of intergenerational responsibility. “To renew is to maintain not only the viability, but the thriving of a community,” he said. “We can therefore look at the future with the confidence of those who are already, bravely and resolutely, shaping it, rather than those who are waiting, passively and anxiously, for the future to happen to them.”
 
With this charge, Dean Kraidy welcomed faculty and staff to a new academic year, urging them to continue building on Northwestern Qatar’s strengths with a spirit of renewal, unity, and purpose.