2014 has been a remarkable year for The University of Jordan, it has been a year of advancement and progress on many academic, cultural and intellectual fronts. An overview of significant accomplishments:
New Programs
In its quest to offer programs that meet the needs of the present and build up national capacities, UJ in 2014 lunched a Master’s in Development Practices in partnership with Columbia University’s Institute in Jordan, Master’s in Web Intelligence, Master’s in Environmental Engineering and a Diploma in Teaching Arabic to Speakers of Other Languages.
New Facilities
To continue in facilitating the educational process, UJ in 2014 inaugurated a number of new amenities including: Psychiatric Unit at the Jordan University Hospital, Princess Basma Unit for Information Resources at the Center for Women Studies, and the Korea Corner at the Faculty of Foreign Languages.
Conferences and Seminars
UJ hosted and organized several conferences and seminars in 2014, most notably the “Water in the Arab World: Status, Challenges and Opportunities” Conference under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan Bin Tala, a conference on Radio in the Third Millennium under the patronage of HRH princes Rym Ali, “Rail Way Engineering and Management” conference which was held in collaboration with the Jordan Engineers Association, American Society of Civil Engineers and International Road Federation, “Arab Spring: Implications and Challenges” Conference, “International Business Dilemma” Conference, “First International Islamic Banking” Conference, “Fifth Refereed Theses and Dissertations” Conference, in addition to other local and international symposiums on research and higher education issues.
Honorary Degrees
In 2014, UJ has conferred 3 Honorary Doctorates on three distinguished Arab figures:
Honorary Doctorate of Management Science to former Prime Minister, Prof. Abdul Salam Al-Majali.
Honorary Doctorate of International Business to Saudi Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal.
Honorary Doctorate of Educational Management to Saudi Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Khalid Al Ankari.
Contrariwise, UJ President, Prof. Ekhleif Tarawneh received an Honorary Doctorate from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in 2014.
Faculty Achievement
Faculty members at UJ have been busy and productive in 2014, many of them received awards or obtained recognition on the local, regional and international levels. Distinguished faculty members and their achievements include:
Shaher Momani, Professor of Mathematics, joined Thomson Reuters’s Highly Cited Researchers List.
Laila AbuHassan, Former Senator and Professor of Physics and Nanotechnology, and Prof. Abeer Al Bawwab, Director of Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research and Professor of Physical Chemistry, were among the U.S. Department of State 2014 Honorees for the Women in Science Hall of Fame Initiative.
Mohammed Al Janaideh, Professor of Mechatronics: Mechatronics - Elsevier Journal website named a Mechatronics article by him, as the second most cited Mechatronics article published since 2009.
Alia Shatanawi, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, received 2014 UNESCO- L’Oréal International Fellowship for Women in Science.
Ali Kamil Alsaed, Professor of Food Science and Technology at the Faculty of Agriculture was announced the second winner of the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) Prize for Academic Research Papers 2013.
Dr. Salih Nawaf Akour, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received the Best Professor in Sustainable & Renewable Energy Engineering award at the Asian Education Leadership Awards 2014.
Abdullah Awidi Al Abbadi, Professor of Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine, has been awarded the State Award for Science, for excelling in the field of medicine and oncology.
Laith K. Nasrawin, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law received the State Award for Social Sciences for excelling in the field of constitutional law.
Said Ismail, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, won the 2013 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Medical and Health Sciences (Cancer and Cancer Stem Cells).
Ali Badran, won 2014 King Abdullah II Ibn Al Hussein Award for Creativity in the field of solar energy field.
Professor of Mineralogy at the Faculty of Science, Department of Geology, Prof. Hani Khoury discovered a new mineral in Jordan dubbed “Tululite”.
Ahmad M. Hamdan, Professor of Orthodontics, was named Assistant Editor for the "Angle Orthodontist" international journal.
Student Achievement
2014 was also a good year for UJ students, many of them were recognized for their academic work or initiatives, for example:
Mechanical Engineering students Hummam Qa'adan, Khalid Al Halabi, Firas Al Hamran and Abdullah Muhammad won Green Generation contest organized by the Sustainable Environment and Energy Systems (SEES).
Architecture students Noor Albzlamit and Rawan Alam won the 2014 Omrania / CSBE Student Award for Excellence in Architectural Design.
Recognition
Year after year, UJ is steadily gaining a wider regional and global recognition:
UJ Business School was named World Trade Organization partner.
UJ School of Business has been ranked as an EXCELLENT business school with reinforcing international influence by the Eduniversal ranking.
The University of Jordan received the Institute of International Education (IIE) Award for Outstanding Service.
WTO Chair at School of Business was renewed for a second 4-Year term. UJ made tangible progress on QS Ranking.
Twenty five research projects received SRSF funding.
Faculty of Dentistry obtained ADEE recognition.
UJ ranked Eighth regionally, Eight points away from Top 500 World Universities, at the QS University Rankings for the Arab Region.
UJ Radio was honored by Princess Dina Mired.
The Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) has been ranked fifteenth on the best research centers list in the Middle East and North Africa, 7th in the Arab world and first locally, according to 2013 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality has been selected member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Antiquities.
University of Jordan Hospital received the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation as an Academic Medical Center Hospital.
Webometrics ranked UJ among top 1% of Arab universities.
We at UJ hope 2015 will be an excellent year.
Happy New Year!!