Northwestern University in Qatar is preparing to celebrate the Class of 2023 at its annual graduation ceremony on May 8th, 2023, as the school marks 15 years since it admitted its first class of students in 2008.
While at Northwestern Qatar, student researchers and creative storytellers from the Class of 2023 have taken their passion for research and multimedia production beyond the classroom, with several presenting their research at international conferences and producing award-winning multimedia content, strategic communication campaigns, and virtual reality (VR) projects.
Throughout their undergraduate careers, they have also been involved in global leadership programs and extracurricular projects, taking part in several academic internships and residency programs at international media organizations and communication agencies around the world. This includes taking part in the media coverage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as they worked with CNN, Fox Sports, and major regional and international media outlets covering the tournament.
"The Class of 2023 represents the best of what Northwestern Qatar stands for: excellence, innovation, and a commitment to making a positive impact in the world,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “As the next generation of evidence-based storytellers and leaders, I am immensely proud of their accomplishments and have no doubt that they will go on to achieve great things."
While at Northwestern Qatar, student researchers and creative storytellers from the Class of 2023 have taken their passion for research and multimedia production beyond the classroom, with several presenting their research at international conferences and producing award-winning multimedia content, strategic communication campaigns, and virtual reality (VR) projects.
Throughout their undergraduate careers, they have also been involved in global leadership programs and extracurricular projects, taking part in several academic internships and residency programs at international media organizations and communication agencies around the world. This includes taking part in the media coverage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as they worked with CNN, Fox Sports, and major regional and international media outlets covering the tournament.
"The Class of 2023 represents the best of what Northwestern Qatar stands for: excellence, innovation, and a commitment to making a positive impact in the world,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “As the next generation of evidence-based storytellers and leaders, I am immensely proud of their accomplishments and have no doubt that they will go on to achieve great things."
“The Class of 2023 represents the best of what Northwestern Qatar stands for: excellence, innovation, and a commitment to making a positive impact in the world.”
- Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar
Communication major, visual creator and artist Zeest Marrium is one of the students graduating this year. During her time at Northwestern Qatar, she was involved in academic and extracurricular experiences that helped develop her technical and leadership skills, combined her creative and research interests, and went on to become one of three student artists in Qatar selected to display their creative work at Qatar Museum’s Liwan exhibition. Having recently been awarded a Draper Scholarship and admitted to New York University and the University of Chicago for graduate school, she will continue to explore the museum landscapes as structures of inequality and repositories of culture in the years after graduation as she studies Middle Eastern and interdisciplinary studies.
Asmae Nakib, a passionate storyteller and writer who majored in journalism, used her time at Northwestern Qatar to nurture her passion for writing. As a student, Nakib wrote stories on her home country, Morrocco, as part of her class projects and was a staff writer at The Daily Q before becoming a peer tutor at the school’s writing center and recently winning the Middle East-North Africa Writing Centers Alliance’s (MENAWCA) Outstanding Peer Tutor Award.
Similarly, avid sound producer and communication major Mohammed Al-Kulaifi took his interest in music to new heights at Northwestern Qatar as he enrolled in sound design courses and learned the art and science of sound design and immersive storytelling. Now a sound producer for many student films and creative projects, he is using his skills and what he learned in the classroom to add immersive elements before heading to Qatar Airways, where he will join its graduate development program, Al Darb.
Also graduating this year is William Gitta Lugoloobi, an international student from Uganda majoring in communication, who has been selected for the 2023 Rhodes Scholarship, becoming the first student from Northwestern Qatar to be selected for the oldest and most prestigious international academic scholarship in the world. Using the skills he developed at Northwestern Qatar he plans to investigate the use of bots on social media as a form of computational propaganda in Uganda after graduation while completing full-time postgraduate study at the University of Oxford.
For journalism major Lena Al-Hamoud, Northwestern Qatar is where her interest in advocacy and international politics grew. As a student, she completed an internship at Jordan’s Mission to the UN as part of her Journalism Residency and joined a group of student advocates from across Education City who traveled to New York to discuss ways football can be used to solve issues in education, health, and sustainability on the sideline of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Asmae Nakib, a passionate storyteller and writer who majored in journalism, used her time at Northwestern Qatar to nurture her passion for writing. As a student, Nakib wrote stories on her home country, Morrocco, as part of her class projects and was a staff writer at The Daily Q before becoming a peer tutor at the school’s writing center and recently winning the Middle East-North Africa Writing Centers Alliance’s (MENAWCA) Outstanding Peer Tutor Award.
Similarly, avid sound producer and communication major Mohammed Al-Kulaifi took his interest in music to new heights at Northwestern Qatar as he enrolled in sound design courses and learned the art and science of sound design and immersive storytelling. Now a sound producer for many student films and creative projects, he is using his skills and what he learned in the classroom to add immersive elements before heading to Qatar Airways, where he will join its graduate development program, Al Darb.
Also graduating this year is William Gitta Lugoloobi, an international student from Uganda majoring in communication, who has been selected for the 2023 Rhodes Scholarship, becoming the first student from Northwestern Qatar to be selected for the oldest and most prestigious international academic scholarship in the world. Using the skills he developed at Northwestern Qatar he plans to investigate the use of bots on social media as a form of computational propaganda in Uganda after graduation while completing full-time postgraduate study at the University of Oxford.
For journalism major Lena Al-Hamoud, Northwestern Qatar is where her interest in advocacy and international politics grew. As a student, she completed an internship at Jordan’s Mission to the UN as part of her Journalism Residency and joined a group of student advocates from across Education City who traveled to New York to discuss ways football can be used to solve issues in education, health, and sustainability on the sideline of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
With more than 110 students majoring in journalism and communication, the Class of 2023 represents more than 32 countries and cultures, including Qatar, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, South Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Poland, Rwanda, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zambia.
As the school celebrates their graduation, they join Northwestern’s global network of more than 250,000 alums and fellow Northwestern Qatar alumni who have become leaders and practitioners in media, journalism, government, business, and higher education in Qatar and around the world.
Graduating seniors attending the ceremony will hear from Dean Kraidy, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Secretary General Hassan Al Thawadi, who will address the graduating class as this year’s graduation speaker, and the Class of 2023 student speaker Aesha Hussein.
As the school celebrates their graduation, they join Northwestern’s global network of more than 250,000 alums and fellow Northwestern Qatar alumni who have become leaders and practitioners in media, journalism, government, business, and higher education in Qatar and around the world.
Graduating seniors attending the ceremony will hear from Dean Kraidy, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Secretary General Hassan Al Thawadi, who will address the graduating class as this year’s graduation speaker, and the Class of 2023 student speaker Aesha Hussein.
