I joined Zayed University in Dubai in 1998 and served there for twenty-five years as Professor of Mass Communication, with an emphasis in Integrated Strategic Communication, in the College of Communication and Media Sciences. Over those years I also held a series of leadership appointments: Assistant Provost, Executive Assistant to the Vice President, Associate Dean and Assistant Dean of the college, and the college's accreditation coordinator, among other roles. Before Zayed, I spent a decade at UAE University in Al Ain as Assistant and then Associate Professor, chairing the Department of Mass Communication from 1992 to 1995. I began my academic career as an Assistant Professor at Yarmouk University in Jordan. Most recently I served as Dean of the College of Media at Liwa University.
I hold a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an M.A. in Journalism from Indiana University Bloomington, and I completed post-doctoral study in media technology at MIT. My scholarly work sits where strategic communication, public relations, and the Gulf region meet: more than fifty publications, from press-government relations in Jordan to the coming of age of public relations in the UAE. Alongside the scholarship, I have trained media and government communication professionals across six countries, including seventy senior UAE government communication managers under a Ministry of Cabinet Affairs program.
I view academic leadership as a service role, one that balances strategic vision, academic rigor, and respect for institutional culture.
That conviction has guided every appointment I have held, and it guides my consulting practice now. Universities are not abstractions; they are people, histories, and habits, and lasting improvement respects all three. The accreditation visits I have prepared for, the curricula I have reviewed, and the departments I have led all taught the same lesson: standards are not ornaments; they are the pathway to achieve excellence.
Today I work independently with universities across the UAE and the wider GCC. I am available for accreditation orientation, training, and support; accreditation preparation and academic program review, including preparation of a Self-Study; curriculum development and updates; academic feasibility studies; faculty skills updates; and advisory work on institutional strategy. If your university is preparing for a review, launching a program, or thinking through its next chapter, I would be glad to talk.
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