Construction Underway at Fares Institute of Public Policy

Last December marked the groundbreaking of the new Issam Michael Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs—a multimillion dollar facility on the campus of the American University of Beirut. The institute, launched through funding from Fares and the Fares Foundation, will provide new offices and facilities for more than 50 faculty members at AUB — and also host an endowed think tank devoted to public policy research.

Issam Michael Fares spoke at the groundbreaking and was joined there by administrators at AUB, as well as other dignitaries. Fares told the crowd that he viewed the inauguration of the institute as “symbolically laying the foundation for a new Lebanon in a new region, open to promising possibilities.”

John Waterbury, the president of AUB, said he hoped the Fares Institute would become “a credible think tank where academics interested in public policy can come together with people who have grappled with public policy issues in the real world.”