Roane State Community College

February 28, 2022

He left Lebanon when he was 19, studied in Paris at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, and immigrated to the United States in 1985.

Dr. George Meghabghab will talk about his life as an immigrant American during the March 2 kickoff of a series of presentations sponsored by Roane State’s International Education and Arts and Lectures committees.

Meghabghab’s talk, titled “Life as an Immigrant American,” will be from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET in the Oak Ridge City Room (A111) of the Coffey/McNally Building at the Oak Ridge Branch Campus. The public is invited.

Talks by other Roane State faculty members who immigrated or spent significant time outside the United States are being planned, said C. Casey Cobb, the college’s director of international education.

After coming to the United States, Meghabghab obtained his doctorate in computer science from Florida State and taught for 11 years at Valdosta State in Georgia.

When he came to Roane State in 1999, the college didn’t have a stand-alone computer science program, and that field of study was relegated to the business degree curriculum.

The Tennessee Board of Regents later directed all community colleges to offer a computer science major. Meghabghab said he had the honor of launching that field of study at Roane State in 2015.

Initially, only six students were enrolled in the program. Today, there are 128 students, and the program has attained national recognition. A cyber defense curriculum has also been added, and the college has been named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.

Those interested in exploring opportunities within Roane State’s computer science division can learn more about the programs online at roanestate.edu/computerscience.

The “Life as an Immigrant American” discussion on March 2 is open to anyone who’d like to attend, including RSCC students, faculty, staff and members of the community.