DEARBORN — Lebanese American University (LAU) held its Yalla! 2010 tour stop at Habib’s Restaurant in Dearborn on Thursday, November 18 with the main goal of rallying and uniting LAU alumni throughout North America.

Scholarship recipients Aseel Baydoun and Arzak Mohammed. PHOTOS: Tariq Abdel-Wahid/TAAN

The campaign is part of a series of ten stops at North American cities that is also fund-raising for the remainder of the calendar year to help send local students from one of each of the ten cities to the LAU’s well-regarded Summer Institute for Intensive Arabic Language and Culture program next July.

Detroit Chapter President Hiba Yazbeck, and Richard Rumsey, the vice president of university advancement at the New York office, said that LAU is hoping to establish relationships with local Michigan universities including Wayne State and Michigan-Dearborn while uniting alumni.

LAU President Joseph Jabbra was also on hand and spoke of the importance of reaching out to alumni of one of the Middle East’s biggest universities, which has campuses in Beirut and Byblos, Lebanon.

“The alumni are our pride and the extended family of LAU,” Jabbra said.

LAU President Joseph Jabbra and Detroit Chapter President Hiba Yazbeck.

Alumni networking is a major focus for LAU’s tour; the goal is to give alumni the resources and support from fellow graduates to help them succeed. LAU has 35 chapters around the globe and Detroit has been an active chapter. Information about the Detroit chapter can be found by e-mailing Yazbeck at yazbeck.hiba@gmail.com

“We are doing a lot in and around Detroit because there’s a large Lebanese population; we’re hoping to be of service to them,” Jabbra said.

Jabbra also highlighted the programs LAU has for American students to study Arabic language and culture.

One student, Arzak Mohammed, who is originally from Yemen, participated in the event at Habib’s. She is currently attending school as an exchange student at Wayne State for one semester through an LAU program.

She said that she was grateful for receiving a scholarship from LAU and appreciated their commitment to education and reuniting alumni.

Jabbra talked about the importance of re-connecting with alumni wherever they may be.

“We need to make sure our alumni are doing well because they are our pride,” he said.

“We want to see that they care for society and the community, and it’s important for us to be together so we can help each other in the spirit of our extended family.”

LAU is active on social networking sites and can be followed on Facebook at  www.facebook.com/lebaneseamericanuniversity or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lebamuniv.

For more information on opportunities including financial aid and scholarships, visit www.lau.edu.lb.