Advertising and Marketing graduates at the Faculty of Humanities (FH) -Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) celebrated their graduation further upon receiving the Diploma in Marketing Communications from the International Advertising Association (IAA).
Attending the event were the Vice-President for Finance at NDU, Reverend Father Bechara el Khoury, Chairperson of the Department of Media Studies-DMS, Dr. Maria Bou Zeid, Assistant Dean- Students Affairs Office Mr. Melhem Rechdan, IAA Vice President Area Director for Middle East and Africa Mr. Saad El Zein and IAA Lebanon Chapter former president Mr. Joe Ayache.
Dr. Maria Bou Zeid, Chairperson of the DMS- FH, opened the floor with a welcome address. In it, she said, “Tonight we celebrate an important milestone - the 15th anniversary of the International Advertising Association at NDU – Tonight - marks 15 years of accreditation, of quality education and of academic excellence and we are proud – Proud to be the only higher educational institution with IAA accreditation in Lebanon and one of the very few with such a distinguished accreditation in the entire Middle East.”
Mr. Melhem Rechdan, Lecturer at the DMS and founder of the IAA Diploma Ceremony, said, “Some of our graduates are working at ad agencies, media agencies or media buying units, in media houses, in marketing departments, in production houses, and in third party ad serving companies… NDU has the strongest network in the marketing communications field.”
For his part, Mr. Ayache highlighted the years of close collaboration with NDU, and the hard work it took to acquire “this accreditation in Lebanon,” and he added that the IAA is “extremely proud that NDU is the recipient.”
Mr. Saad El Zein stressed on the positive participation of the NDU delegation in the IAA apprentice conferences.
Before the conferring of degrees, Father El Khoury congratulated the students on their achievement and urged them to stick to their human values.
NDU representatives awarded Mr. Ayache and Mr. El Zein, each a trophy in recognition to their Contribution to the Advertising Industry.
Finally, Mr. Kamal Darouni, was also honored by a trophy for his dedicated work to receive the IAA Accreditation for NDU’s B.A. degree in Advertising & Marketing.