Petroleum Engineering Chair on Leave Following Petitions

BY JEHAD MOHAMED

Former chair of the Petroleum Engineering (PENG) department, Magdi Nasrallah is on sabbatical leave after PENG students filed a petition against him with the support of their student-run association.

The Dean of Science and Engineering Tarek Shawki and Provost Amr Shaarawi reviewed the petition.

“I did not step down and did not leave the chairmanship because of the petitions,” said Nasrallah, adding that he had applied for sabbatical leave.

Nasrallah had applied for sabbatical leave last December but only received approval after the petition was filed against him this semester.

Several other petitions were filed against Nasrallah over the past two years.

The current petition stated, “Dr. Magdi treats students unfairly and lacks appreciation towards some of them. What everyone sees as positive criticism or stating an opinion, Dr. Magdi sees as rudeness and misbehavior.”

“I asked to discuss the issues that concern the students with them to see if there is a way to resolve them,” Nasrallah said.

He added that he met with a number of student representatives in the presence of the provost and the Dean in order to respond to their concerns.

The petition added, “The misdistribution of professors among courses is obvious.”

“We cannot offer all courses all the semesters, there is a sequence of courses and there are prerequisites and some students just want to have a system tailored for their own needs,” Nasrallah said.

Ahmed Nouh, associate professor in the PENG Department, said that the distribution of courses and curriculums was finalized on the first day of the semester.

“It is very dangerous as we need to read and study the curriculum before teaching it to the students,” he added.

Nasrallah said that the courses are distributed among faculty members before the start of any given semester.

“He is a good professor but did not succeed in managing the department,” Nouh said.

The petition also stated, “The department does not provide sufficient opportunities for students to apply for internships and trainings, which shows a lack of communication with the oil and gas industry.”

The PENG Senitor, Hesham Nasr, added that Nasrallah should have provided opportunities in oil companies for students to gain experience.

Nasrallah said that the internships offered by the PENG department are an extra service and that they are the only department offering internships for students.

Another complaint provided in the petition read, “Every year a new five year plan is offered which reflects inexistent planning and ensures confusion as different students now follow different, and sometimes clashing, plans.”

Nasrallah said that he did in fact change the five-year graduation plan but that it is only normal to do so for the benefit of the students. He added that each student should be responsible for his or her own plan and its progress.

Mohaned Tantawy, a PENG student, said that Nasrallah did not approve his five-year graduation plan and refused to enroll him in a class because he was undeclared, adding that there were other undeclared students already enrolled in the class.

The petition also stated that the US Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has not yet accredited the department.

“This is despite the fact that Nasrallah continuously promised the students this accreditation since we enrolled in the program,” the petition read.

Nasrallah replied to these complaints and said that the department’s dean surprised him with the decision of not apply for the ABET accreditation. He said that the dean took this decision when he saw the numerous complaints against him.

Nasrallah added that in the School of Science and Engineering’s council meeting it was announced that all departments will apply for ABET accreditation but with the exception of PENG.

“The excuse I got from the dean is ‘how can you apply for ABET and there are complains from the student and complains from the faculty?” Nasrallah said.

He added that although he hadn’t managed to get the ABET accreditation yet; he did get the approval of the Egyptian Supreme Council for the department which will allow students to join the engineering syndicate.

Temporary Chair Ali Hady, originally the Chair of the Mathematics and Actuarial Science Department, will run the department during Spring 2014 until a new chair is recruited next semester.