Lebanon cedar tree joins magnolia as symbols of School’s past and future
| June 08, 2009 | |
On April 7, 1963, as part of a building dedication ceremony, Dr. John Wright, professor and former chair of the School’s Department of Health Administration (now health policy and management), planted a Southern magnolia near the entrance of the new public health building to honor the School’s first dean, Milton J. Rosenau, MD.
Dr. Habib El Takach is shown here with the Lebanon cedar he presented to the School. Photo by Dan Sears.
Forty-six springs later, Habib El Takach, MD, a physician earning a doctoral degree in health policy and management, has presented the School with a Lebanon cedar as a token of friendship between North Carolina and his homeland. The companion trees in front of Rosenau Hall speak eloquently about a School whose roots are in North Carolina – and whose branches extend toward countries around the world. El Takach, a third-year student in the distance-learning Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program, works for the Lebanese government as a medical doctor in a large prison medical facility in Beirut. Prior to entering the doctoral program, he was a Humphrey Fellow in the UNC Department of Public Policy. “We feel so privileged to have Habib in our program,” says Suzanne Havala Hobbs, DrPH, clinical associate professor of health policy and management and nutrition and director of the doctoral program in health leadership. “The leadership challenges he has faced and the insights he shares with others in the program have been invaluable. His participation has added to the quality of the educational experience for everyone – students and faculty alike.” 
Tourists pose by the trunk of an ancient cedar. Photo courtesy DC Digital.
References to the Lebanon cedar have appeared in sacred and other writing since ancient times, when cedar wood was valued for the building of temples and ships and for religious ceremonies. Native to the mountains of the Mediterranean region (including Lebanon, Syria and Turkey), the slow-growing and long-lived tree may reach 130 feet in height and 8 feet in diameter. Small groves in northern Lebanon are known to be between 1,000 and 2,000 years old. El Takach’s gift had an inauspicious beginning. The first sapling, hand-carried from his home, did not meet U.S. customs regulations. Two other saplings failed to thrive. Finally, with the advice and help of UNC arborist Tom Bythell, a larger tree was planted successfully in May 2009. In an email about his gift, El Takach wrote:
Photo by Charles Roffey
The cedar tree, everlasting green, represents to me the symbol of strength, long-lasting life and grandeur. As children in Lebanon, we were raised to love the tree, love our land and be proud of our history. When I came to Chapel Hill in August 2006, the first thing that captured my attention was the magnolia tree that I love very much, a tree that carries a flower with beautiful scent. I hope that this tree, presented as a token of friendship, will develop a spiritual tie between the Land of Cedars and the Land of Magnolias, between the eastern and the southern parts of heaven. Hobbs, who helped arrange a dedication ceremony for the tree on May 12, said, “Habib’s gift was a very generous and kind gesture of friendship, sentiments we certainly return.” # # # UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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