DOHA, QATAR – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar announced that Dr. Hessa Sultan Al Jaber, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) will deliver the keynote address at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s third graduation ceremony May 3.
“I count Dr. Hessa as a very good friend,” says Charles E. Thorpe, Dean, Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “And she is, of course, a friend to the university: she was on our Joint Advisory Board for years, she is working to build up the ICT industry, she sponsors many interesting and valuable initiatives. In addition, she is a personal friend, to whom I have always looked for advice and encouragement. And now I am very pleased that she will share that same valuable advice and encouragement with the graduating students and their families.”
Al-Jaber will give the graduation speech to the class of 2010, which is comprised of students receiving Bachelor of Science degrees in computer science, information technology and business administration.
In her years of leadership at ictQATAR, Al Jaber has led Qatar’s information, communication and technology (ICT) strategy across sectors, spearheading major initiatives in government, education and business. She has overseen the liberalization of Qatar’s telecommunications market, ushering in an era of choice and competition, and directed the modernization of Qatar’s ICT infrastructure.
Passionate about ensuring that the benefits of technology reach all sectors, Al Jaber has led numerous initiatives to make Qatar a more inclusive society through ICT. She has spearheaded the modernization of Qatar’s government through ICT, streamlining process, making government more transparent and accessible to its people, and also launching an online portal to the government, Hukoomi. Al-Jaber has also been instrumental in the creation of Mada, an assistive technology center that serves persons with disabilities in Qatar, as well as the development of the Center for Arab Women in Technology.
Al Jaber is a member of several Boards, including the Board of Regents of Qatar University, the Board of Governors of the American School of Doha and Qatar Financial Markets Authority. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Engineering) from Kuwait University and Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Computer Science from George Washington University, Washington, DC.
The graduation ceremony is an important event for Carnegie Mellon Qatar because it engages the entire community in the history, life and future of Carnegie Mellon, celebrating its achievements and heralding the promise for a bright future for its graduates.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar has seen two graduating classes, with more than 70 students receiving diplomas since the inaugural graduation in 2008. More than 90% of the graduates from Carnegie Mellon Qatar are either in the workforce or studying at graduate schools in the UK or the US.
More than 700 family members, friends, faculty, staff and members of the Doha community will attend this graduation celebration for the Class of 2010.
ABOUT CARNEGIE MELLON
With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 11,000 students, 84,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.
