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UD provost returns to country he fled

Joseph Saliba escaped war-torn Lebanon in the 1970s.

New University of Dayton Provost Joseph Saliba escaped a war-torn Lebanon in the 1970s and the University of Dayton community has been his home since.

Chris Stewart/Chris Stewart New University of Dayton Provost Joseph Saliba escaped a war-torn Lebanon in the 1970s and the University of Dayton community has been his home since.

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer Updated 11:00 PM Friday, May 22, 2009

Joseph Saliba’s journey to become the University of Dayton’s provost started on a dangerous mountain pass between his native Lebanon and Syria.

Saliba fled Bteghrine, a small village north of Beirut, in 1976 during Lebanon’s civil war. “I was not the type who was going to carry a gun and go shoot people,” Saliba said.

Traveling with his uncle’s family in an auto caravan, Saliba had to pass through the treacherous Bekaa Valley. The day before Saliba’s trip a similar caravan had been ambushed there; the people in the last cars in line were massacred.

“As we were going up the mountain, we had a flat tire,” Saliba recalled.

Saliba and his cousin changed the tire, but the caravan stopped for no one. The other cars sped past.

“All of us were praying. There was not a word spoken,” he said.

Saliba reached Syria. He stayed briefly in Brazil and France before joining a cousin in 1977 at UD.

“The day I arrived here, he left back to Lebanon, So I was here by myself.”

Despite speaking little English, Saliba earned three degrees in six years from UD — a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in civil engineering.

Saliba, 54, has spent his entire professional career at UD, rising through the ranks from research engineer to dean of the School of Engineering. In March he was named provost, the chief academic officer.

Today, May 23, Saliba departs for his first trip to Lebanon in 28 years, on behalf of UD. He returned in 1981 for his wedding.

“It’s all coming back,” Saliba said regarding the guilt, fear, sadness and anxiety he felt about leaving his homeland. “It is truly very emotional,” he said.

Saliba said he didn’t need to know much English to do well in his math and physics courses, but he struggled to understand the lectures in a business ethics class.

His professor, Robert Thomson, a Canadian, discovered that Saliba was French-educated at a boarding school in Beirut. “He basically stayed after class and gave me the lecture in French,” Saliba said.

UD’s Catholic Marianist priests and brothers looked after Saliba as a student, said the Rev. Paul Marshall, university rector. “That shaped him and influenced his own understanding of the Marianist philosophy, which has guided him as a professor and administrator,” Marshall said.

In February, Saliba received the 2009 Lackner Award for his dedication to UD’s Marianist mission. It’s one of the university’s highest honors. “No position, no title or anything will even measure up to this,” said Saliba, a lay Marianist.

In March, Saliba was named provost, the university’s chief academic officer.

Saliba “offers a global perspective on higher education that will lead the University of Dayton into the future,” said Daniel J. Curran, UD president.

Every UD graduate should have some level of international competency to compete in the global economy, Saliba said.

Saliba and Curran depart today for a one-week trip to Lebanon. “It is extremely important that we bring UD to the world, but also bring the world to UD,” Saliba said.

The UD officials hope to make new connections with five Catholic universities in Lebanon. They plan to visit several high schools, including Saliba’s alma mater. They also will work to develop a UD alumni chapter in the Middle East.

UD had many Lebanese students during the 1970s and early ’80s. “We’re hoping to rekindle that situation and open up the doors a little bit,” Saliba said.

Saliba left a large, extended family behind in 1976 when he fled Bteghrine. His parents, brothers and sisters have since joined him in the Dayton area. Most of his siblings and children have attended UD.

“Dayton has taken the place of that village,” said Saliba, who lives in Huber Heights with his wife, Dorothea. “It’s my family, it’s my village, it’s my home.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDailyNe

ws.com.

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