Qatar Katrina Fund

Louisiana, October 17 (QNA) – On behalf of H.H. the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Minister of Education and Higher Education and Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Education H.E Saad Bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud has cut the ribbon opening the college of pharmacology at Xavier University of Louisiana .H.H. the Emir had laid down the foundation stone of the college during a visit to the university as part of Qatar’s support for the victims of hurricane Katrina.

Addressing the ceremony, the minister conveyed the greetings of H.H. the Emir to the staff of the university wishing progress and welfare to the American people. He said efforts made to rebuild the university which was devastated by the hurricane were praiseworthy. He also praised the courage and determination of the people of Louisiana to rebuild New Orleans and other ravaged areas in the state. He noted that the same feeling of hope and optimism prompted H.H. the Emir to set up a fund for the victims of Katrina in 2005.

He expressed his appreciation of the efforts of all those who contributed to the fund including US state, municipal, federal officials and Congressmen.He said that naming the faculty Qatar Wing of Pharmacology will always tell the story of friendship between the two peoples.Mitch Landrieu ,the mayor of New Orleans expressed his profound appreciation of the position of H.H. the Emir and the Qatari people in support of the victims of the hurricane.

The ceremony was witnessed by a large crowd including Mitch Landrieu as well at the President of Xavier University Norman C. Francis and Qatar’s ambassador to the US Ali Bin Fahd Al Hajeri, in a addition to a number of US officials.(QNA)

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2010/10/ xavier_university_building_is.html

Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune
The soaring glass-fronted building on Xavier University’s campus will provide pharmacy students state-of-the-art laboratories with the latest equipment and spacious classrooms and lecture halls.

The building, which will be formally dedicated Friday, is also a tangible reminder of the generosity of Qatar, the Middle Eastern nation that gave $100 million to Gulf Coast recovery following Hurricane Katrina.

Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, felt moved to help the Gulf Coast, focusing on education, health care and housing. Qatar gave $38.4 million to education, including the $12.5 million that helped build the Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion at Xavier.

Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, chairman of the Qatar Katrina Fund, said Qatar is proud of the building because it is an investment in education. “We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of Xavier University and all our project partners who helped us play at least a small role in this historic rebuilding effort,’‘ he said.

That’s a modest description of Qatar’s extraordinary contribution to this area’s recovery, one that will not be forgotten.

http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2010/10/ xavier_universitys_new_pharmac.html

John Pope, The Times-Picayune
A $29 million building that serves as the most conspicuous reminder of Qatar’s post-Katrina generosity will be dedicated Friday at 11 a.m. at Xavier University.

The 60,000-square-foot addition to Xavier’s College of Pharmacy, which looms over the Pontchartrain Expressway, has been named the Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion after the oil-rich emirate, which donated $12.5 million for construction costs. Qatar, which is next to Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf, gave a total of $100 million to help the Gulf Coast area recover from Hurricane Katrina.
The five-story building, in use since mid-August, was designed by Blitch Knevel Architects of New Orleans. The Leo A. Daly firm of Houston was the consulting architect.

Its dominant feature is a three-story atrium, which features a wall made out of a massive glass sheet that wraps around the front of the building. The vast window, made of glass panels that are supposed to withstand winds as strong as 150 mph, provides a dramatic panorama that takes in not only the expressway but also the campus site where a chapel, designed by the renowned architect Cesar Pelli, will rise to honor St. Katharine Drexel, Xavier’s founder.

Xavier has one of only two pharmacy schools in Louisiana. The other is at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Plans to expand the school had been under way before the storm because of the growing student body, said Kathleen Kennedy, its dean. The college receives about 1,000 applications each year for a first-year class that has grown from 120 students to more than 160. This year’s graduating class — men and women who completed two years of undergraduate school and four years in the college — had 169 people, making it the biggest in the college’s history.

An example of the new space the college has gained is on the new building’s first floor, where there are twin auditoriums that can be combined to hold 444 people when a separating wall is raised.

New laboratories

The pavilion also has laboratories with the latest equipment.

Because there is much more to being a pharmacist than putting pills in a bottle, these rooms have mannequins that students can practice on because, Kennedy said, students have to know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, as well as procedures such as blood-pressure and glucose checks.

The pharmacy students, who wear white coats to class, also have to know how drugs interact. Even though there are computer programs to warn that someone taking Drug X should not be given Drug Y, “you don’t always have access to a computer,” Kennedy said.

Still unfinished last week was the top floor, where students and faculty members will be able to conduct research on animals. The new space originally was supposed to be in the basement of the nearby Norman C. Francis Academic/Scientific Complex. But it flooded after Katrina, prompting the move where rising water would not pose a threat, Kennedy said.

The new space, technically known as a vivarium, should be ready by the end of the month, said Reginald Starks, the director of the college’s animal-care section.

“It’s designed to compete with LSU and Tulane … on an equal footing,” Starks said.

Xavier scientists will be collaborating with their counterparts from those institutions because the three institutions are partners in the Louisiana Cancer Research Center, whose headquarters is being built at Tulane and South Claiborne avenues. It is scheduled to be complete next September.

Qatar Katrina Fund

Expected at Friday’s dedication are Saad Bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud, Qatar’s education minister, and Ali Bin Fahad al-Hajri, Qatar’s ambassador to the United States. Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, attended the groundbreaking in April 2008.

“We are particularly proud of the new Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion because it represents an investment in education,” said Nasser Bin Hamad al-Khalifa, chairman of the Qatar Katrina Fund. “As we mark the five-year anniversary of the storm and complete work on the fund, we are grateful for the hard work and dedication of Xavier University and all our project partners who helped us play at least a small role in this historic rebuilding effort.”

In all, Qatar gave the area about $38.4 million for education, including scholarships at Loyola, Tulane and Xavier; about $27.5 million for medical care, including $5 million each to Children’s Hospital and Tulane University Community Health Center; and $34 million for housing, with $22 million going to Habitat for Humanity New Orleans.

Xavier President Norman Francis said he is grateful for country’s gift, describing the building as part of “Xavier’s continued post-Katrina commitment to health care services in New Orleans and this nation.”

By Peter Townson
Staff Reporter
Gulf Times Online

The entire donation has been given to some 18 projects throughout Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama

Thousands of needy people have benefited from the $100mn Qatar Katrina Fund, donated by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on behalf of the people of the state, which has now been fully committed to projects aimed at rehabilitating the areas in the US affected by a devastating hurricane in 2005.

The chairman of the fund and former ambassador to the US, Nasser al-Khalifa, told Gulf Times that the entire donation had been given to some 18 projects throughout Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, and that all the projects had now been completed.

Al-Khalifa explained how the fund had come about, saying that following the hurricane he had received a phone call from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, now also the Prime Minister, HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani, who conveyed the Emir's wishes to make the generous donation to the people affected.

After the commitment of the money, there were discussions about how best to assign the funds, and al-Khalifa explained: "I said there are two ways – one, you can give it to the US government but you will have no control over it, or we could do it differently – and they said they wanted me to handle the donation."

Al-Khalifa, who was newly-appointed Qatari ambassador to the US at the time, said that he had taken the job of chairing the fund on one condition – no interference from Doha or Washington on how the fund would be disbursed.

He formed a legal plan for how the fund would be organised, recruiting influential figures such as former US secretary of state James A Baker III, Georgetown University president John DeGioia, former chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Lee Raymond and University of California at Berkeley professor and former advisor to president Clinton Laura D'Andrea Tyson to an advisory committee which would assist in identifying projects for the fund to support.

Al-Khalifa explained that with the help of the committee, they managed to identify 18 projects, each aimed at providing either medical care, housing or education to which they assigned the funds.

"Unfortunately, looking at different projects around the world, a large amount of the money is spent on administrative costs," he said, adding "I didn't want that – I wanted it the way HH the Emir wanted it to be done, and that is that every single penny would go into the project."

He explained that transparency was something else he needed to guarantee and so he recruited two legal firms to assist with legal regulations and auditing, ensuring that all the funds were spent directly on the projects and nothing in between.

"I was given the full trust of my government and I wanted to represent not only the government, but the people of Qatar, and so it had to be done in a professional way," he added.

In terms of education, the fund reopened a children's community centre, renovated damaged schools and mosques and built the "Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion" at Xavier University which is set to be officially opened this year as well as providing funds and scholarships to students.

More than 2,000 "Qatar scholars" now have the chance to finish their education as a result of the fund – a fact of which al-Khalifa is particularly proud.

He is similarly pleased with the efforts of the other projects, claiming that it was "touching" to see the people who benefited from the donation.

The fund also contributed towards housing developments, renovations and providing financial assistance, as well as a number of medical projects, providing free healthcare to those in need, including projects such as the 'March of Dimes' project which provides prenatal care to expectant mothers.

"Hundreds of families now have their own accommodation – some of them told me it was the first time they were able to actually own homes," he said, adding "and thousands of people have benefited from the healthcare provided by the projects supported by the fund."

"We are all witnesses to the pain of our brothers and sisters, no matter where we are from or our beliefs," he argued, adding "we are all human beings – humanity is our family."

"The pain of one is the pain of all, the question is what we can do to help improve the lives of others," he added.

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani visited the US Gulf Coast in 2008 to monitor the progress of the fund, and al-Khalifa said that the Emir was pleased with the progress of the projects and proud of the work the Qatari fund had managed to carry out.

"I was very happy that he was happy with the outcome," he said, adding "this is his legacy – it was his idea."

Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States with devastating effect on August 28, 2005. It was estimated that more than 1,800 people had lost their lives and more than $81bn in damages occurred.

By Peter Townson
Staff Reporter
Gulf Times Online

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani during his trip to monitor the progress of the fund in 2008

In line with Qatar's dedication to the enhancement of education, some $38.1mn of the Qatar Katrina Fund was donated to educational projects throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Chairman of the fund Nasser al-Khalifa expressed his hope that the compassion shown by the Qatari government and people will inspire the recipients of the fund to show similar empathy for others in need in the future.

Former ambassador to the US Nasser al-Khalifa with some of the 'Qatar scholars' the Qatar Katrina Fund supported through their education

Al-Khalifa explained that meeting the 'Qatar scholars' who were awarded scholarships by the Qatar Katrina Fund was a particular highlight of the project.

"We have now provided education for 2,135 'Qatar scholars' and I hope that when they make it in the future, they will help others as well," he said.

"And I hope that they will remember that it came from Qatar and that they think of Qatar fondly – the distance between our countries may be far but our hearts and minds are close by," he added.

Al-Khalifa said he would like to see more exchange programmes between students from the US and Qatar.

"Hopefully in the future we will see not only lecturers but students coming to Qatar from the US," said al-Khalifa, lending his support to exchange programmes between Qatar University and those the fund supported in the US.

"I would like to see more sharing of knowledge," he said, adding "people are enemies of what they do not know."