في المقابلة الخاصة مع " الدكتور برادلي كوك" رئيس الجامعة الأمريكية في بغداد من برنامج صوت الجامعة

[0:00]Dear listeners of the AUB FM 101.5, for every achievement there is a story and for every story there is a moment where the details of success are told. Today we stand at one of the most important milestones in the journey of the American University of Iraq Baghdad. The graduation of its second class of students who are closing a chapter filled with learning, dedication and perseverance and opening a new chapter defined by ambition, responsibility and achievement. This is an occasion that celebrates not only graduates but also the value of education, the efforts made inside and outside the classroom and the vision built on the belief that the greatest investment is the investment in people. Yet, this milestone is only one part of much larger story, a story of a university that continues to grow, expand its academic horizons and pursue official American accreditation and create new opportunities for its students through graduate programs and partnerships with leading institutions around the world. Today, we revisit the most important moments from this landmark graduation ceremony and explore the future of AUIB with the President of the American University of Iraq Baghdad Professor Bradley Cook. But first, let's say hello and welcome to the Professor Bradley Cook and we are very honored to have you with us today at the Uni Voice Show. It's nice to be here. Thank you for the invitation. You're welcome anytime and we are very honored and happy to have you with us today at the Uni Voice Show at AUB FM. And first, Professor Cook, before we talk about AUIB and the magical moment in the graduation ceremony, who is Bradley Cook and what journey led you to become the President of the American University of Iraq Baghdad? Oh, well, good question. I'd rather talk about the graduation because I We want to know more about you. Typically are a little uncomfortable talking about myself, but it is an interesting story, I think, I think your your listeners might be interested in this. So, um, I'm from uh a West one of the Western States in in the United States, called Utah. And my parents moved us to Saudi Arabia uh in the 70s. That's interesting. My uh my father and mother were educators, so I grew up in Saudi Arabia when I was a kid until I was about 15. So that experience as a young person defined me in terms of my interests in this part of the world. So, it got in my DNA and in my blood uh about love loving, um, the, you know, culture and history and and language. Um, and comparative religion and being able to have friends that were from all over the world. So, when we moved back to the United States and I pursued my education, um, and I, I went to Stanford University and ended up getting two degrees there, but ended up, you know, gravitating to courses and majors that had a Middle Eastern element to it. So my undergraduate degree was in International Relations with an emphasis on the Middle East and a uh, an education degree where I did a uh a research project relating to Middle Eastern uh education. So that's my academic um, my academic work. My first job out of college was in Cairo, right? I was at the American University uh in Cairo.

[3:51]Uh and I was a an assistant to the president there, which really at that point I, I realized two things. One is that I wanted to stay in higher education, um, and two that I wanted to be uh I wanted to have an international career, especially in the Middle East if I could. So from there, I ended up um going to Kuwait, um, and working right after the Gulf War, I worked for an engineering company that was putting out oil the oil fires there and helping rebuild Kuwait's oil infrastructure. So that allowed me to see sort of the a corporate side, right, of um, of of a profession, but still in the part of the world that I that I loved. But I knew I wanted to get a PhD. I knew I wanted to go back to higher education, so I needed to get a a doctoral degree, and I, and I went to the University of Oxford, um, and studied at the Middle East Center there at St. Anthony's College under some really great um academics, uh, Derek Copwood is a very um, uh, you know, just a renowned scholar of this region. And uh, and was able to spend a lot of time researching education, education systems, particularly in Egypt, um, where I spent a lot of time with uh with research projects there, um, in in and around Cairo. So once I finished my uh, um, my doctoral degree, I, I went right into the classroom and was a faculty member for several years. And then ended up getting right into administration, so I ended up being a Vice President for academic affairs for a very large university in Utah. Loved uh, you know, loved it and realized, you know, that higher education really is uh, my calling. But the Middle East was was was beckoning, and so I ended up uh taking my family to Abu Dhabi. So I was the president of the Abu Dhabi Women's College, of which was a terrific experience, um, where a very unique experience where I just uh really loved that. Uh in the meantime, I was writing a book on um education and and Islam. And one thing I was very struck about the kind of foundational scholars uh of of Islamic education, especially between the 9th and 13th centuries, had a lot to say about education and education um philosophy. Uh yet, a lot of people don't know the the this work. Um, and so my, I felt I really wanted to kind of bring it to light to at least English-speaking, um, audiences and and uh, wrote a book called Foundations of of uh Islamic Educational Thought. So, um, ended up going back to the United States and ended up becoming the a a president, um, you know, uh in in Utah. Um, and uh, was there for, you know, 10 to 12 years, but and I, I just could not leave the Middle East alone, and ended up getting uh recruited to be the president of the American University of Bahrain. And there, um, I was able to bring the university to Wascaccreditation, so it was the first um for a for a first US accredited university in the Kingdom. Um, and uh, it really is doing doing really quite well. And then I had this opportunity to come here and I could not it was I was immediately uh captivated by the the prospect and the the possibilities of what this university can do. Okay. And, you know, meeting the founders uh and listening to their deep dedication to education, their deep dedication to uh Iraq. You know, they've been very successful, and they could have done a lot of things with their resources and money, but they chose to invest here. And learning, yes. In learning and in young people, and uh because they understand at a very deep and fundamental level what education can do for human well-being, but also in terms of the economics and uh um the future of of Iraq. So my wife and I um Jen, who is our director of the Wellness Center, We send our greetings to her. Thank you very much. She uh, she would uh would love to hear that and I think you've had her on on the show before. In the morning show. In the morning show. Um uh you know, she does a lot in terms of helping people with um their mental well-being and and larger, you know, kind of issues and um, you know, so that they can, they can live live a a healthier and and more robust life. Yes. We both love this place and we love the the building of it. Um, we, we both are are are builders at heart and that's where we are with this uh with this university. And we wish to both of you the best of luck with this mission to lead this university to a brighter future. Such an inspiring journey. It's professional academic journey and it's really inspiring and interesting. I mean, now let's talk about the graduation ceremony and all the details about this um this moments. But we have a lot of tradition we've seen, we don't have it here locally in Iraq. Is it connected to the American education style or maybe the British education style? I mean, how the students are attending to the stage and maybe they're having their own outfit, it's really different from other styles here in Iraq and maybe outside Iraq. So, are you just want to do something like the worldwide universities and all these international universities who are doing everything in a professional way? Yes, let's do it.

[19:23]You know, and that's what his point is, is that um and this is one thing I love about um the idea of how Islam thinks about education is, you know, it it's a very holistic, um, you know, uh versus, right? That together, you know, they provide a kind of a whole person. And so I think that's what the Imam is is suggesting is Yes, Al-Imam Ali Al-Hasan. Yeah, uh that um that it is important to develop your your mind. But don't forget your character and what you do, and what you do well, matters. Well, that's so deep. I mean, Mr. President, this year introduced a new academic honors and distinctions. What is their significance and how can they just benefit graduates in the future? I mean, what's the idea of having different kinds of academic honors? Well, different uh, honors like, um, you know, to be able to sort of celebrate those that are best in class, right? So when you have these valedictorians, um, we, we, and, and we have a valedictorian for each college. I think we have to sort of reward, uh, and recognize um, uh merit where we see it. Um, and people that have worked that much harder than the rest or you know, and that's what these medals are are recognizing is that listen you are um, you know, cream of the crop, best of the best. So those medals are are really important to to to showcase those students who have gone above and beyond just the ordinary. And to encourage the new generation to do their best. Absolutely. Yeah. This is let's let's let's keep your eyes in terms of what you're shooting for very high. And uh because if these types of students can do it, then you can't too. Okay. So, I want to ask you about following the success of the MBA program, are there plans to launch additional master's programs or international dual degree opportunities? I mean a lot of people are questioning about that. We have a successful program like the MBA I know, but people are asking is there any new field when it's come to having a master degree in it? Mhm. Yeah. This is a great conversation and we're in the process of planning these uh these degrees. But the closest the the graduate degrees that are closest to coming to fruition is the LLM, which is a a master's degree in law. And a with a partnership with George Mason University, um in Virginia, uh just right outside of um Washington D.C. The LLM uh degree is is specifically geared towards professionals that may have an undergraduate sort of law degree but want to sort of um you know, get a uh a master's degree and to be able to have a dual degree where with AIB um and George Mason would be really really attractive. It's also, you know, going to be delivered on the weekends and and in the evenings or afternoons so professional, you know, um, sort of working students can can take advantage of it. So the LLM is something that we should have ready to go by by Fall. We're also looking at a master's of uh Health Administration. This is a master's degree that um is so needed in our hospitals and clinics around the country. Um, we are also looking at a master's uh within the oil and gas sector. Really, that's really interesting. Yeah, with uh a partnership with West Virginia University. That's wonderful. Um, who uh, so we're there's several other degrees. I wanted to also say that we're very close to expanding our MBA program to double the cohort. We're working with the Ministry right now to uh to move it from 25 to 50, which will really be awesome. One of the things that I'd love to explore is the DBAs, the Doctor of Business Administration. There's a lot of demand for business doctor of Business Administration. It'd be our first doctoral program, but uh, but if we, that'll probably be our first doctoral program if any. Okay. So that's really interesting. There is a big step uh ahead for the MBA programs and also maybe the PhD also. And I want to say about the accreditation Mr. President. A lot of people are asking and wondering about it. How close is AUB to obtaining official American accreditation and what milestones have already been achieved on this path? Yeah. This has been a very a real uh, um, strong focus of mine. Um, you know, I've been able to to get um, university's accredited before and we're going to get this one accredited too. But there's it's a several stage process. So we were able to submit our first set of documents uh a year ago, which we were finally able to get approved to move to the next step. Which now we've been working on, which, which we will then submit what's called a a an application for eligibility, which is 89 different documents, policies, uh curriculum maps, handbooks that is necessary for us to submit that application. What that, and we'll do that July 1st. What that will allow is that within a month or two, they will be able to come back and say, okay, great. You are eligible now, uh to begin what's called the self-study, which is going to take about a year to do. Um, which, which basically says, listen, what you said in your, you know, you you have all these policies now. You have all of these things, show us, demonstrate to us that you're doing what you say you're doing. And so it allows us to do a self-study where we can submit that in about a year. Uh then a team will come um to AIB, um and they will spend about a week here, in you know, interviewing people, um, you know, and and and doing a doing a report. And then at that point, they will make a decision whether there's one of three decisions they'll make. One is accreditation for five years. There's provisional accreditation, which you may need to come back with some other documentation, or you need a little bit longer to to prove something. Uh and then the third, which is not likely for us, and they would, you know, say, listen, you just start over again, or you or you've, you know, which is just not. So I would say we're about a year to 18 months from getting the self-study done. So we're very, very close and the thing is that this takes a lot of attention and persistence. Uh we have a lot of people working on this at the university. Yeah, people don't understand what it, what it takes. Yes. And sometimes it, what it takes is also, uh, time. So it's a long complicated journey. I mean, people think that it's an easy thing to achieve, but, I mean, it's require a lot of things and moves to have this accreditation at the end. It's incredibly complicated, but it's an important thing because it, what it does is it helps the university organize itself, Yes. And uh perform better, but but that that we're there's an an objective view, right? We're not evaluating ourselves. You have professionals that come and say, hey, you know, you, you do pass our standards here or you don't. Yes. And that keeps a university, you know, kind of on its toes and uh Of course.

[28:19]And helping us uh create a a great community here. Thank you so much. It's an honor and this is my job and. Thank you very much. This has been really uh enjoyable.