Tod Laursen, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, announced May 3 that he will leave Duke to become the president of Khalifa University of Science, Research and Technology, a young university in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Laursen has been at Duke for 18 years and previously served as senior associate dean for education for the Pratt School of Engineering. The Chronicle’s Taylor Doherty sat down with Laursen May 28 to discuss Khalifa.
The Chronicle: Could you tell me a little more about Khalifa University?
Tod Laursen: It has existed as Khalifa University for a couple of years. It is an engineering school, [and a state school] is the exact analog. ...This is the university that is particular to Abu Dhabi, which is the largest of the seven emirates. The ruler, very much [so], and the people on the board of the university are really taking it as a priority to diversify their economy away from oil. They know to do that they need to improve the educational system at all levels, and they really need an excellent state university, particularly in technology and medicine.
TC: Have you gotten a sense of how college life in the United Arab Emirates and America differ?
TL: I think I’m going to learn a lot more about that. Of course, the university now is in temporary quarters and so things like student housing—which will exist when the permanent campus is built—don’t yet exist.... I think that there are aspects of student life there that are still to be developed, and I think that’s one of the things that’s going to be kind of fun, to look into what the different traditions can be and what it will be like to be a student at Khalifa as opposed to other alternatives.
TC: Do you think that the character of the university will reflect the American influence that you bring as the school’s president?
TL: I think so, but it’s important not to just sort of impose that footprint, either. Certainly, I think from the standpoint of, as I understand it, the sheiks, there is an interest in looking into the American system as sort of a way of designing the university, but I think that it would be a mistake not to be sensitive to local traditions. I think for me, it’s going to be very much a learning exercise.
TC: As president, will you have to completely give up teaching? Will you miss that time in the classroom with students?
TL: Well, I’m actually going to try [to teach]. I think it’s probably not realistic to do it right away, but it’s one of the best ways I know to get to know students better, to know what’s on their minds, to have a notion of what can sort of be improved, to know what level of preparation they bring, which is one of the other unknowns.
TC: As you consider your move abroad, what do you think you will miss most about the U.S.?
TL: I’m a sports nut. I love college basketball, but I actually love college football even more. For me, one of the things that I’ve liked about Duke and about being on American campuses in general is that I like the mix of academics, social [life] and sports. For me, the sort of totality of the campus experience is something that I really enjoy. I’m sure the campus in the United Arab Emirates will develop our flavor and have that, but I have to admit I have to figure out a way to get my college football fix on Saturdays during the fall.
TC: Well at least as a sports fan, you get to leave right after Duke won a national title in basketball.
TL: That’s true—it’s actually my first one in the 18 years. The back-to-backs [in 1991 and 1992] were right before I joined the faculty, and then in 2001 I took my sabbatical, so I was actually gone. I almost missed the boat.
TC: You’ve been at Duke for 18 years. What will you miss about life at the University?
TL: The thing that I love about Duke students—and that I very much hope that I’ll find there—is how generally interested [they] are in everything. There are a lot of places, especially in engineering, where kids are very narrowly focused on engineering and may not have that many interests outside of it. You know, I suppose that can happen from time to time in Pratt, but far more often kids are really interested in very powerful stuff: music, economics, whatever it might be. It has made it a lot of fun to teach here.
TC: How did your family react to the news of your appointment?
TL: My wife and sons were totally enthusiastic about it. They were, at the outset, more enthusiastic than I was.... My oldest son is [heading to college in the Fall], so for him, it’s looking like a good place to spend his breaks, but that’s the extent of it. My younger son is 16, and so he’ll be looking at the last couple years of his high school [there]. He was actually a very big advocate and champion for doing this because... he is very interested in Arabic history and music and language.
TC: Through this process so far, what have you learned about the United Arab Emirates?
TL: The thing that I have really been struck by that I didn’t appreciate before this is how open a society the UAE is.... You’ve basically got a society that from a certain standpoint, at least economically, has every advantage. There have been times in the past when other cultures have sort of sat on their laurels rather than thinking about what the next thing might be. The sense that I’ve gotten in the UAE is that people really realize that the oil economy is very finite and that there are things that they’re going to need to do in order... to have a better future.
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