It is with great delight that I present the GEM Award to Halil Ibrahim Salih, Ph.D., professor of political science and Model Arab League (MAL) coach. Thanks to our very bright students and Dr. Salih’s leadership and political wisdom, the team won the Overall Honorable Mention Delegation Award (second-place overall) at this year’s National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations' MAL competition. Several Texas Wesleyan students also received individual Outstanding Delegate Awards.

Dr. Salih has sponsored a team of students since 1985 to participate in this program. Each year, the team competes among other top colleges and universities in our region. Students learn about politics, diplomacy and Arab history and compete through debate and public speech. This year’s competition took place at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and once again, we were represented extremely well.

For 46 years, Dr. Salih’s passion for students, politics and debate has been a driving force behind our successful political science program, which is consistently one of our most popular majors. His unending commitment to developing students to their fullest potential and fostering a critical thinking learning environment exemplifies what we are striving to do in all our programs at Texas Wesleyan.

It is a privilege and honor to be surrounded by educators like Dr. Salih who are leaders in their field and deeply committed to their students’ collegiate experience. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Salih for going the extra mile in his work year after year and helping our university define what it truly means to be an engaging educator.

Fred

Frederick G. Slabach

Texas Wesleyan University President