The 14th annual convention of the Federation of Aligarh Alumni Associations (FAAA) was held at Crowne Plaza Houston River Oaks, Houston, TX. The theme of the 2015 convention was "Advancing Educational Opportunities for Women" which was hosted by the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Alumni Association of Texas. Representatives from across the United States and Canada attended the convention. The program started with an alumni reunion and dinner followed by a cultural program in the evening moderated by Dr. Nausha "Nash" Asrar in which participants showed their talent. Saturday's program began with a recitation from the Holy Qur'an by Abdul Hafeez Khan. The official proceedings of the convention from June 12-14 were kicked off with the first session chaired by Prof. Habib Zuberi and a welcome address by Prof. Shakeel Ansari, Chairman of Board of Trustees of the host Association followed by the presentation of annual reports by Dr. Saif Sheikh (President) and Mr. Ali Asad Rizvi (Treasurer).
The second session was chaired by Prof. Wasi Siddiqui and included the introduction of various Alumni Associations' official representatives from across USA. Each representative was given an on opportunity to present a brief account of the background and activities of their associations during the previous year. The theme of the third session was "Educational Opportunities for Women", chaired by Prof. Naseem Ansari and included a presentation by Dr. Sadia Chagtai, entitled, "Advancing educational opportunities for women". Dr. Chagtai emphasized that women's education reduces inequality, improves health and contributes nation's growth.
The second presentation, "empowering women to improve the health of the community" was given by Dr. Maqbool Haq. Dr. Haq introduced the idea of training of non-physicians in diagnosing and treating patients with hypertension and educating women in self-examination for certain cancers. In the third presentation of this session Dr. Saif Sheikh gave a detailed account of the role played by the federation and its member organization in promoting girls education in India.
The fourth session started after lunch break, Chaired by Amb. Ishrat Aziz included a presentation by the Pro-Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Brig. (Retd.) Syed Ahmad Ali. Pro-Vice Chancellor spoke for about 45 minutes and started off by thanking the federation for the invitation and providing the opportunity to interact with AMU alumni spread across North America. He talked about the overall progress at the university during the last few years and highlighted the accreditation of the university by NAAC and achieving "A" grade and AMU being ranked at number 2 spot among all Indian universities according to the rankings released by Times higher education Asia university rankings 2015.
Brig. (Retd.) Ali expressed pride in Aligarh Muslim University Alumni all over the world and thanked them for their generous support for establishing 70 "Smart Class Rooms" equipped with modern teaching tools. The PVC took questions after his speech.
The fifth session was chaired by Prof. Asif Mashood and included a thought provoking speech by Padma Shri Prof. Akhtarul Wasey. He said the demolition of Babri Masjid shifted the focus of the Indian Muslim community to the importance of education. This event led to a remarkable increase in efforts to educate the underprivileged in the country. He appreciated alumni for their concern for the poor conditions of the underprivileged in India, but the issues back home are too big for just the alumni to solve alone. "Primary education of poor kids should be our focus. Not just Muslim kids, we should strive to make sure that no kid in India is left behind", said Prof. Wasey.
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