Learn Arabic (Modern Standard): أولت الرئيسة المقترح اهتماما كبيرا وهي تقرأ التقرير. - The president gave the proposal great attention while she was reading the report.

The verb أولى (here conjugated as أولت for "she gave") is one of the verbs of giving and granting that take two direct objects without needing a preposition. The first direct object is the recipient, المقترح (the proposal). The second direct object is what is given, اهتماما (attention). Both are in the accusative case.

The dictionary form of this verb is أولى ending in an alif maqsurah. Why did it disappear in أولت?

أولى is a defective verb, meaning its root ends in a weak letter. When attaching the feminine singular marker ـت in the past tense, the weak final vowel is dropped to prevent two vowel sounds from clashing. So, أولى plus ـت becomes أولت (awlat).

Why is there a و (wa) before هي تقرأ (she reads)? Does it just mean "and"?

Here, the و is a circumstantial waw. It connects the main action to an ongoing state, translating best to "while" or "as." The phrase وهي تقرأ التقرير is a circumstantial clause describing the state of the president while she was giving her attention.

المقترح (the proposal) looks like a participle. How is it derived?

It is the passive participle of the Form VIII verb اقترح (to suggest or propose). Like all non-Form I passive participles, it starts with a مـ carrying a damma (mu-) and has a fatha on the middle root letter (-ra-). So literally, it means "the proposed thing," which we translate as "the proposal."