It was supposed to be very different. NYU Abu Dhabi’s tenth anniversary celebrations were scheduled to take place in March 2020, with pomp and circumstance. Thousands of community members were meant to flock to the Arts Center to celebrate an institution that they had helped build from the ground up. But like many events planned for that unfortunate month, NYUAD’s festivities were thwarted by a pandemic that devastated this community and fundamentally changed the university and life as we know it.

Nonetheless, on September 21-22, some members of the community came together, in-person and virtually, to celebrate a decade of a campus that has attempted to revolutionize higher education. The Gazelle spoke to Westermann about the university’s founding, the last decade and the future. For her, it was a celebration delayed, not denied.

As she has said in other interviews, the Vice Chancellor was keen to emphasize the speed with which a “world-class” institution had been set up on Saadiyat Island. “We managed to build a university of this quality this quickly … that really filled me with amazement and gratitude for not the hundreds, not the few hundreds, the thousands of people who built an institution of this quality.” Westermann further likened the institution’s rapid growth and trajectory to Stanford University.

The festivities of the past week helped celebrate that accomplishment. In particular, the event included the release of “The Origin Story: An Oral History of the Founding of NYU Abu Dhabi 2005-2010,” a book and an accompanying short documentary which covered the early days of the institution through interviews with figures such as Westermann, former NYU President John Sexton, former NYUAD Vice Chancellor Alfred Bloom and Rima Al Mokarrab, Executive Director of Strategic Affairs, Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi; Chairman, Tamkeen LLC.

In the short documentary, the interviewees celebrated the ambition of the NYUAD project, but also covered many of the controversies surrounding the university. In particular, the documentary includes a discussion of the findings of the Nardello report about the violation of labour practices in the building of the Saadiyat campus.

But the centerpiece of the celebrations was “This is NYUAD,” a film created by Emmy award-winning documentary maker Anthony Geffen. For Westermann, this was the most moving part of the celebrations.

“I know all of the people interviewed in it … I followed their journeys over the years. And so when I came back, I couldn't believe that they were all here in 2019. I came back and I heard that this film was underway and I was interviewed for it.” Westermann, who also served as the university’s first provost, said, “Just to see the transformation that the students talk about, their individual journeys that are not one shot journeys, they're complex. They talk about ... the idea that they travel to each other's home, sometimes the idea that they stayed like Musbah to work in the Emirates, the doubts that they overcame.”

Westermann was particularly eager to discuss her decision to move to the city in 2007, three full years before the university began operations. The Vice Chancellor immersed herself in the culture of the UAE, interacting with both Emirati society and the community of expats that reside in the country.

“How on earth can you, as a woman, be a leader in Abu Dhabi?” This was a question that was often posed to Westermann during her initial years in the city. “There was a lot of bias about [the] UAE and Abu Dhabi … it wasn’t well known, nearly as well known as it is now,” she added.

Westermann’s leadership style has always demonstrated close engagement. She shared that often, toward the beginning, there was this assumption that institutions like NYUAD could be entirely built from abroad. “That we were sort of consultants...and from the start I felt like this was totally the wrong attitude.”

None of this was easy. There were, at times, existential challenges. The Vice Chancellor highlighted the threats that had engulfed the world, and a globalized institution in particular, in the last fourteen years, including the global financial crisis, the deleterious effects of the climate crisis, the rise of inequality and the unanticipated effects of social media on society. But most of all, it was the Covid-19 pandemic that threatened the values at the heart of NYUAD’s mission.

Westermann acknowledged the great loss experienced by the community as a result of the pandemic, but celebrated the resilience of the community to bounce back over the past 18 months.

“I hope that students also see there are things that you gained even though it may not have felt like it in the moment, you showed yourself to be unbelievably adaptable … you traveled the hard path with us.” Westerman shared. “You asked us hard questions, which is completely fair, but were also understanding when I and others had to ... lay down various rules and make sure we complied with all the regulations.”

As the university completes its first decade, the Vice Chancellor looks forward to the next ten years. In particular, she emphasized the graduate program and professional programs that the institution is trying to build.

“I think I see very exciting possibilities ahead. It is the reason I came back to be Vice Chancellor. I didn't come back just to celebrate 10 years.” Westermann added. “I came back to build it forward.”