KAUST recently hosted three events for alumni, friends and family in New York, Denver and Oakland, California. The first international gatherings for alumni since January 2020 (and pre-COVID), the events were about reconnecting with our much-loved global alumni community. 

The events, co-hosted with Admissions and Student Recruitment and Strategic National Advancement, gave alumni the opportunity of connecting with each other while also hearing from KAUST colleagues about ways to become more involved. 

“The US is one of our larger alumni communities, and it’s increased in size since our last visit pre-pandemic in 2020. Alumni come to the US for outstanding career and academic opportunities, which the events gave the KAUST team a chance to hear more about in-person,” said Lea Sublett, Manager of Alumni Affairs.

We were honored to host Founding Class alumni at each event. This very special community of alumni had the change of reminiscing about the early days of KAUST with more recent graduates – thank you Ahmad Showail (in California at UC Irvine as a Fulbright Scholar), as well as Qingyu Li, Junsong Zhao, Ryan Decker, and Ali Outa for joining us! Founding Class alumna Berenice Tellez Garcia (MS ’11) made official remarks at the Denver networking reception, welcoming fellow alumni and talking about her own unique KAUST connections

Alumni Affairs looks forward to continuing its engagement with alumni in the US, and is currently planning its 2023 events as well as working with volunteers to establish the North American Alumni Chapter (NAAC). The Chapter, comprising the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be managed through a network of “regional hubs” coordinated by alumni volunteers. 

“We’re really excited about finally establishing the NAAC this year. The network of regional hubs ensures KAUST has a presence throughout North America, in areas with critical mass and active, enthusiastic alumni volunteers. If you’re interested in contributing your time to founding the Chapter, or representing NAAC in one of the regional hubs, it’s not too late to get involved,” said Sublett.