April 18, 2019,

NASPA MENASA is a regional international student affairs organization for 30 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia areas including the UAE that offers leadership, scholarship, and professional development and advocates for student affairs professionals with over 15,000 members at 2100 campuses worldwide. 

The recent 13^th Annual  NASPA, MENASA Region Conference “Towards a Holistic Student Experience,” was held at the American University of Kuwait from March 31 – April 2, 2019 and was attended by  75 regional professionals including Reema Abu Hilal, Manager of Student Life of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) and AURAK Associate Provost for Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Denise Gifford. Dr. Denise was awarded the Founders Award for establishing and coordinating the inaugural NASPA Middle East/UAE professional development conference for regional student affairs professionals while she was the Dean of Students at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 2006. The first conference was a one-day drive-in workshop held on campus at Zayed University in Dubai.  To assure that the organization had a firm foundation, Zayed University continued as host and coordinator of the annual conference from 2007-2010.

Since 2010, the organization has flourished and grown into the expanded NASPA MENASA with over 30 countries represented, providing regular professional development meetings and webinars for members. The President and CEO of NASPA, Dr. Kevin Krueger, flew into Kuwait from the NASPA headquarters in Washington DC to attend the Kuwait conference and bestow the award upon Dr. Gifford.

The attached photo is of NASPA President, Dr. Kevin Krueger, Dr. Courtney Stryker, Student Affairs Consultant at Qatar University and Dr. Denise Gifford.