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school of business administrationSP TLIGHTFall 2021 & Spring 2022SBA HIGHLIGHTS, P2I N T H I S I S S U EFACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS,P5STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENTS,P9INTERNSHIP &PLACEMENTS, P13ALUMNI, P14

2021 a year ofconstant changesDear colleagues, Welcome to “Spotlight” our new digital newsletter. This first issue covers the past academic year, butwe aim to have next issues report SBA news and SBA community achievements on a semester basis. Last year was what we can consider a year of transition to the new normalcy and face to face coursedelivery. Nevertheless, we all know that Covid has brought us to a place of no return, where educationis not the same anymore. To be resilient and remain relevant in an increasingly competitive andchanging environment, our education model needs to adapt and innovate. In this context, the UAEMinistry of Education (MoE) and the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE) have createdthe University Consortium for Quality Online Learning (UCQOL) that include AUS (represented bySBA) among nine select universities from the UAE. UCQOL, which is in line with the UAE NationalInnovation Strategy and the National Higher Education Strategy 2030, is the first regional projectwhere a multi-sector consortium is spearheading online education to ensure that the online programsare market-driven, high-quality, accredited and accessible to arab youth. Within this context, theUniversity is gradually switching to hybrid graduate programs. The School has restructured its currentgeneral MBA which will be offered in a hybrid format in Fall 2023. The University is also working onthe first fully online STEM MBA in Business Analytics, and the School has just received a two-yeargrant to help with the implementation. Starting next Fall, the School will have its own InstructionalDesigner and its recording studio for online education. More to discuss on this when we meet inAugust/September. At the same as we are adapting to these changes, we have worked very hard on the compliance to theMoE standards. After the successful re-accreditation of our programs by AACSB last year, we havereceived confirmation of successful re-accreditation from the MoE after three rounds of CAA reports.Thank you so much for your hard and dedicated work last year! We owe this success to each and everyone of you! school of business administrationSP TLIGHT

STATISTICSschool of business administrationSP TLIGHTThis AUS Jubilee year, we celebrate 5680 SBA alumni around the world! We have proudly made animprint in the lives of so many of our students. This is such a fantastic feeling. As a testimony of yourachievements, we are the top choice among employers in the UAE according to QS rankings 2023. We remain, according to QS rankings, in the first position in the UAE and the second in the regionbehind AUB for Accounting and Finance, and Business and Management! The School is among the top250 worldwide. This is such an achievement for a Business School that is only 25 years old! Next year, we will continue with curriculum innovations that include a proposal to launch a new majorin Supply Chain Management, and a new Master Program in Economics. The PhD program has beensuccessfully launched last Fall with 6 students, two of whom will be at the University of SouthCarolina for a year in the Dual PhD Program. We plan to hire two new faculty members in Finance andone in Management between Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. As we move forward with our strategic plan, we will next year initiate discussions on performanceevaluation frameworks, student recruitment and retention, university/discipline rankings,sustainability, staff and faculty recognition and ways to improve what we do. I am looking forward tothese discussions!I wish you all a restful, joyful and enjoyable summer!Dean Narjess Boubakri evidence of the outstanding experience

SBA welcomed four newfaculty membersschool of business administrationSP TLIGHTYumin ZhangPrior to joining AUS,Yumin was an AssistantProfessor of Accountingat Monash University(Australia) after sheobtained her PhDdegree at the CityUniversity of HongKong in 2017.D E P A R T M E N T O F A C C OU N T I N GMona MradMona holds a Ph.D. inMarketing from theUniversity ofManchester, UK. Shehas also obtained adegree in fashion designfrom ESMO.D E P A R T M E N T O F M A R KE T I N G & ISMourad BenayedMourad joined in Fall2021 as Adjunct faculty.He is an experiencedprofessional, well-knowledge in consumermarket. D E P A R T M E N T O F M A R KE T I N G & ISJosiah JodreyJosiah is a highlyeffective businessoperations professionalwith 10 years ofexperience primarilyengaging in the customerservice industry. Hejoined this Spring 2022 toteach MIS201 as anadjunct faculty.D E P A R T M E N T O F M A R KE T I N G & ISYass AlkafajiThis title is the highestdistinction that is bestowed toa retired faculty member bythe University, and this is thefirst ever Emeritusappointment in SBA!A S E M E R I T U S P R O F E S S O R O F A C C O U N T I N GSBA welcomed back SBA bid goodbye tofarewellValerie LindsayVal joined SBA in 2015 as Professor of Management.She became Director of Graduate Programs in Fall 2017 and was laternominated Associate Dean in Spring 2019. Val is the first Associate Deanfor Graduate Programs in the School. During her tenure, Val hasextensively contributed to the re-accreditation of the current MBA andthe MSA, as well as to the initial accreditation and launch of the MSF inFall 2020, and the PhD in Business Administration with a concentration inFinance in Fall 2021. Val has always been supportive, committed and veryactive. Val is a professional photographer and I hope that you have hadthe chance to see some of the brilliant photos she took! She is nowmoving to new adventures, still in the Academic circle, and we wish herplenty of success! Take good care Val, and see you soon!D E P A R T M E NT O F M AN A G E M E N TMoustafa ShalashMoustafa resigned from the positionof Senior Manager of ExecutiveEducation and Outreach to pursueanother career with a new employerlast August 2021. Moustafa made abig impact in engaging hugecomapnies to our executive programs,including, but not limited to Etisalat,Ministry of Cabinet Affairs andFuture, Ajman Transport Authorityand many more.S B A E X E C U T I V E E D U C A T I O N

E X T E R N A L R E S E A R C H G R A N TB G S B O A R D O F G O V E R N O R SOur very own Dean Narjess Boubakri has been elected on the BGS Board of Governors. These new members jointhe 11 returning board members to constitute a strong,engaged, and diverse board of governors fully committed to further elevating BGS as a force for good.school of business administrationSP TLIGHTJaved Younas recently secured a J-PAL/MIT researchgrant under KingClimate Action Initiative for $150,000 forhis energy proposal inPakistan. His PI is based in DukeUniversity. The title of the project is: “Information and behavioralapproaches to reduce electricity theft and pollution fromelectricityprovision: experimentalinterventions inPakistan” Narjess BoubakriStefania MarianoGeorge ChristodoulidesE M E R A L D L I T E R A T I A W A R D Stefania Mariano received the 2021 Emerald Literati Awardfor her published paper "Organizational forgetting Part I: areview of the literature and future research directions"W O R L D T O P 2 % S C I E N T I S T S -S T A N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y L I S TGeorge Christoulides reappeared on the latest version ofthe Stanford list of Top 2% Scientists (published 19 Oct,2021).Faculty AchievementsCindy BakerJaved YounasA C C R E D I T A T I O N E V A L U A T O RCindy Baker has contributed greatly as an ABETComputer Accreditation Commission (CAC) programevaluator.P U B L I S H E D B O O K SRodrigo Basco published a co-authored textbook (2022).In J. Cheng, L. Diaz-Matajira, N. P. Bang, R. B. Basco, A.Calabro, A. E. James, & G. Samara (Eds.), Family BusinessCase Studies Across The World: Succession AndGovernance in a Disruptive Era. Edward Elgar.Mona Mrad published a co-authored textbook (2022) on“Fashion & Luxury Marketing” (with Michael Solomon)published by SAGE. This book is a superb andcomprehensive opportunity for university students tolearn the evolving nature of marketing in fashion andluxury contexts.Rodrigo Basco Mona Mrad

These events are extremely important to deepen ourrelations with industry experts, and to enhance thereputation of the School’s researchers and researchprograms. Here are some contributions.As we started going back to in-person delivery in Fall2021, SBA was able to participate in, organize or co-organize several events. Some of the events/conferencestook place in AUS, while others were organized off-campus. Various EventsIn November 15-16, 2021, the Chalhoub Group Professorship of Luxury Brand Management hosted the 2021 AUS-Chalhoub Symposium - led by Pauline Brown, former chairperson of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) North America. Organized by George Christodoulides.In November 27, 2021, SBA leaderships gave a presentation to SBA OpenDay to around 200 high school students mostly in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia & UAE as part of the enrollmentinitiatives.In March 14, 2022, Abed Abdallah was one of the lead panelists of theInstitute of Management and Accounting (IMA) event entitled, “Bridging theSkills Gap in the Finance and Accounting Profession.” In March 23, 2022, in collaboration with New York University, Mohsen Saadwas one of the organizers of the First International Academic Conference"Economic Policy and Research in the UAE and Beyond." Mohammad Arzaghiand Ismail Genc presented their paper "Rating vs. Reviews: Does OfficialRating Capture What is Important to Customers?". It was also attended byProvost Juan Sanchez and SBA faculty members. school of business administrationSP TLIGHT

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTSBA leadership engaged with secondary students,Grade 11 and 12 students from AlMaarifaInternational, GEMS Cambridge International School,and International School of Creative Science who areabout to move to University and start a new chapterof their life. Special thanks to Abed Abdallah forheading these workshops. As a honorary holder of the Bank of Sharjah chair in Banking and Finance, Narjess Boubakri organized, on May 20th, 2022, a conference on "theevolving role of sovereign wealth funds: issues and challenges". Theconference welcomed Dr. Bill Megginson as a keynote speaker. Colleaguesfrom AUS, other universities in the UAE and the region were in attendance.Several presenters flew from Europe, Korea, Canada, South America and theUS to participate in the conference which was attached to a special issue ofthe Journal of International Business Policy.

John KatsosIntegratingSustainability Principlesinto your ClassroomsMohammadArzaghiOpen Access in Practiceat AUS (In collaborationwith the AUS library)Omar BelkhoujaLearning Visits - HowTeachers Can SupportEach OtherMohsen SaadCindy BakerIs there value in thegrading scale?Christian RauchEntrepreneurship:Startup Journeyschool of business administrationSP TLIGHTSBA faculty participated in various webinarsSeminar Series7Faculty ResearchGrants10Open Access Programs9Professional DevelopmentGrants18StatisticAnna Lena Maier, University of HamburgValentina Pieroni, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaGabriele Murtas, Università degli Studi di BergamoAsma Alawadi, University of ReadingHamish Simmonds, University of Melbourne Faculty host: John Katsos Filippo Maria Pisani, Università degli studi di Napoli Parthenope Maribel Guerrero, Newcastle Business School Faculty host: Rodrigo Basco Anastasia Stathopoulou, International University of Monaco Nina Michaelidou, Loughborough University Faculty host: George Christodoulides Faculty host: Virginia Bodolica Faculty host: Aaron GazleySBA faculty engaged with international academiaGuest Speakers33

SpreadHappinessschool of business administrationSP TLIGHTSba"Thank you so much for thisthoughtful offering! I would alsolike to thank all the sba staff andfaculty. It truly made my day!" -Noor SBA community contributed a monetary gift to CleanCo for their year of hard work. It has been a lot of extra work from them thisyear, ensuring our classrooms are disinfected every hour and keeping our offices and buildings clean. In addition, one facultymember donated his money to CleanCo for publishing in an A* journal.SBA leadership and administrative assistants volunteers prepared Ramadan gift bags for students who are staying in the dorms.Kristine Castelltort, Lisa Ballesteros and our veryown Dean Narjess Boubakri celebrated their 15years in SBA, AUS. Staff's AchievementsFaseehuddin Ahmed has been promoted to TeamLeader.

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTUnited Nations Principles have recognized Jahnavi Doshi for Responsible Management Education (PRME) for her outstandingcontributions to the 2021/22 PRME Global Students Regional Leader in the Middle East. Jahnavi joined efforts with other worldwidestudent leaders to build PRME Global Students (PGS), a global network for creative collaboration and collective action that connects,empowers, and creates value for 300+ sustainability-oriented student organizations worldwide. A large portion of PGS's success reliesupon Jahnavi's remarkable leadership, which proves the excellence and commitment of the American University of Sharjah's student body and the institution's commitment to transforming responsible management education. Studen't's AchievementsTwo groups of students from AUS just came 1st and 3rd in the DEWA Business CupChallenge that was held in Curtin University Dubai last October 14-20, 2021. AlaaHamade who mentored one of the groups said "The students performance wereadmirable and their accomplishment was well deserved. Being from AUS is a furthersymbol of our excellence as an institution." The group also won Most Creative andBest PESTEL. The students are:Batool Abdelsalam Yahya Mohamed Shahad Nasser Mohamad Hassanain Rayyan Burney Sahil Lakhyani A faculty-student collaboration: The paper "Financial Inclusion and Women’s Bargaining Power:Evidence from India" published by Javed Younas in collaboration with Julia Jose, BSBA inEconomics alumni, has been accepted for publication in an A journal. According to Javed, Juliadeserves all the credit for her hard work throughout the past year. Without a question, she is ahighly talented, dedicated, and bright young lady. She is now applying for grad schools. SBA students and recent graduates were shortlisted and participated in thisyear's 2nd UAE P&G CFO COFFEE CLUB with the winning team including twoSBAers!  Kareena Mengharajani, Talal Abdel-Hamid and Omar Zia wereshortlisted and participated in this event. The objective of the CFO CoffeeClub is to meet young talent and introduce them to P&G culture and workthey do, while competing on a fun business challenge.

Judi Dairawan, was awarded first place at the 4th Public TransportHackathon. Judi was part of the team behind "Scooty", a solutionthat gamifies riding e-scooters safely and rewards the safestdrivers.In under two days, Judi managed to implement and demonstratethe helmet detection feature of the solution proposed by her team."The experience was tremendous and I'm glad I got a chance towork along with my wonderful team members, each of whichrepresented a different university. I'm proud to dedicate this winto my university, AUS."The AUS team has won over the last week-end, the best runner-up team in Society Research Challenge in the MENA region. The CFAInstitute Research Challenge is a competition between university teams that research a designated publicly traded company, prepare awritten report, and present their report to a panel of judges. Winners at the local level advance to compete against teams within theirgeographic region at the sub-regional level. In 2021, over 900 universities took part in the Research Challenge globally. On February 26, 2022, the CFA Society Emirates hosted the local-level competition of the CFA Institute Research Challenge, in which nineuniversities within the UAE participated. The winners and the runner-ups from the MENA region, including teams from Bahrain, Cyprus,Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and UAE competed in the Society Research Challenge in an in-person event on March 12, 2022. Under the faculty mentorship of Osamah AlKhazali and our own Ph.D. student Waleed Ihsan, the AUS team, which consisted of KunaalNanik, Hajar El Moutlaqi, Hamdan Karmustaji, and Sourav Paul, displayed an immense level of knowledge in equity research, a high level ofprofessionalism, and outstanding skill level in communications and public speaking. Countless hours and long week-ends of preparation wererewarded with this fantastic achievement!

SRTIPINE301 students headed by MohammadIbahrine visited the SRTIP last October 31,2021. This will enhance our collaborationand partnership in the future.6 EMBA alumni along with visitingdelegations of Executive MBA studentsfrom the Emlyon Business School fromParis, Lyon and Casablanca visited theSRTIP last November 2, 2021.EXPO 2020DP World, the Premier Global TradePartner for Expo 2020, invited AUS toparticipate in their Universities Programme.Organized by Linda Angell,DP world provided a detailed tour of theirPavilion, and an hour-long lecture re: "theUAE as a Global Logistics Hub." This topicclosely aligns with the course content forthis semester in SCM202 and MBA609.LOUIS VUITTONOrganized by George Christoulides, MKT405Luxury Brand Management class attended aspecial SEE LV Exhibition in Dubai Mallexhibition by Louis Vuitton focusing on animmersive journey covering over 160 yearsof the maison's history. BURJ AL ARABMKT405 Luxury Brand Management class totook part of a guided tour of Burj Al Arab –the ultimate luxury icon in Dubai.

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTTASScavenger HAUNTAccounting andData AnalyticsTAS Crossword Freshmen Meet &GreetForensicAccounting, Fraud,and FinancialCrime TalkGroup MentoringWorkshopSEASEA The TeamSEA Assemble!Get, Set, Act!SEA MovieNightFIEXFinternsCareers in Finance:Islamic PerspectiveBeat the Clock -Squid GamesEditionWho Wants To BeA Shorts Seller?Warren's Wheel ofWealthFiEx TradingCompetitionFiEx X SmartCrowdTMIBinge It OnMidtermMotivationMMCStudents vs.ProfessorsStudents Vs.Professors:Charades Edition DBTWomen inBusinessExcel WorkshopsSBA Open DaySweat it OutSTARTUPNo CodeWorkshopProductivity 2.0 22Studen't' OrganizationsEvents

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTInternship & Placement"My advice is to considerevery day in yourinternship as a steppingstone to improve anddevelop yourself".After completing my Junior year, I signed up for my internshipcollege requirement. Fortunately, I got the opportunity to intern inthe renowned firm IPSOS, a Leading Global Market Research andConsultation firm. It has broadened my perspective to experimenton what I might pursue in the future. In addition, it helped meunderstand how a finance major is not only fixed to financialinstitutions and is needed as well by a wider range of sectors.- Adam Abudiab, Finance MajorRecruitment day at KPMG for the IARCS team with a group of 20 Bachelor's and Master's SBAs. Great discussionsshowcasing the talent of our students and graduates."I was fortunate enough to complete my internship at MAGNiTT - the largest online community forstartups across the MENA region. As a Business Management major, with a key interest in HumanResources, I had the opportunity to work as an HR intern. My time at MAGNiTT really helped meexplore my passion for HR and most importantly, I was able to put my academic knowledge into thetasks I was assigned on a daily basis. Although initially I was eager to intern at a corporate company, my summer internship at MAGNiTThas only helped me acquire a great deal of knowledge about the startup and venture capitalecosystem, so much that it has awakened the young entrepreneur in me. My advice to anyone and everyone: Don't limit yourself to what you know, take courage and treaddown that unknown path!" - Irene Franco, Management Major"My internship at Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation (SRTI) Park was a pleasant experience!I was able to enchance my skillset with the help of a cooperative marketing team that was willing totrust me enough to handle real life tasks in the workplace.A special thank you to the marketing team for making me feel heard and appreciating my efforts aswell as HR for always checking up on my wellbeing. This internship had surely helped me grow andget ready for the work environment!" - Jawaher Al Mheiri, Marketing Major

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTGeorge Christoulides class, MKT 310 Marketing Communicationsparticipated in the competition and secured an internship at OmnicomMedia Group.Spring 2022 SummaryMcKinsey & Co Middle East Knowledge Hub: training session how to tackle the Case Studies of the hiring assessmentsMinistry of Economy: We placed two students in the new recruitment program for Emiratis in EconomicsUPS Info SessionHenkel Company DayMcKinsey & Co KSA Info SessionCareers in KPMG Info Session and Recruitment CampaignParticipation and support at the University wide Career FairPWC Recruitment CampaignAmazon and Amazon Web Services Recruitment Campaign Grant Thornton Recruitment CampaignBCG Aspire Women event and BCG Careers in Consulting eventMasterCard Recruitment Campaign Spring 2022 Recruitment and Employer EngagementRecruitment activities include company events, competitions and activities that are either co-hosted with us, OAAA or arecompany led.Special mentions for this semester are:Other activities and events:Monitor Deloitte PCFC: Ports and Customs Authority,SANAD Abu DhabiUAE Central BankNew Notable contacts: Dubai government

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTWe launched the iLead program as a pilot in Spring 2021, fully adapted to covid restrictions. iLead is a 3 part personaldevelopment and career preparation program.42 students have attended the iLead I part of the program and iLead III is launched this semester with the graduating class. In Spring 2022, for iLead II: Career Preparation Workshops: We held 10 sessions with total of 307 participants. SBA Executive Education Programs are reintroduced this semester. We communicated and submitted proposals in response toreceived inquiries. IPLP headed by Yass AlKhafaji returned with on campus sessions. New Strategic Thinking Workshop was organized for Sharjah Capability Development in May 2022 with Valerie Lindsay.Executive EducationSocial MediaInternship Seminar CV Writing and Digital PresenceInterviewing Skills and Negotiating Job/Internship OffersInternship/Job Search StrategiesTopics covered:The Instagram Account of the IPO@aus_sbacareers was changed to @aus_sba toinclude news and stories from other units withinSBA. Some Growth Insights for this semester fromFebruary 24 to May 24 compared to last term:

 our Alumna H.E. Sara Musallam has been appointed as Minister of State for EarlyEducation. H.E. will also supervise the newly established Federal Authority for EarlyEducation and is currently the Chairwoman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Educationand Knowledge.H.E. holds a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the School of BusinessAdministration of the American University of Sharjah. Iman Al-Ali, with double majors in Economics and International Studies (Spring 2020), will join the MSc. in DevelopmentManagement at the London School of Economics. Shaabana Naik, Economics major (Spring 2020), will start her master's degree in Economics at the University of Tokyo. She is oneof six recipients of full funding from the Government of Japan (MEXT scholarship).ALUMNITime-management: Managing academics and extra-curricular activities in a high pacedenvironment. Communication skills: I had joined AUS as an average student but I graduated with upmostconfidence and the drive to concur and disrupt the market. Community values: Bringing sustainability in my day-to-day lifestyle and how to take intoconsideration the community while doing business.  Ozair Mohammed Badar who graduated in BSBA Management (batch of 2019) have beengranted 100% tuition scholarship worth approximately $100,000 to pursue MBA in CorporateInnovation & Entrepreneurship from Baylor University in Texas, USA."I am proud to be an AUS graduate, this University has nurtured my analytical, practical andcommunication skills that I could achieve this prestigious award. Moreover, continuous support fromboth my parents for being by my side and an inspiration for me. What has AUS taught me?1.2.3.I could not be more proud to call myself an AUSer and an AUS Alumni. I would like to have anopportunity along with my parents to personally thank His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan BinMuhammad Al-Qasimi, for creating this top-class University and giving me the opportunity to be apart of an outstanding AUS community" -Ozair Badar Ministry of Economy – Anti Money Laundering Department “I am very happy to share that I have been selected for the very first batch of studentexchange program. I believe that I am in the right place, and my skills and interests are anexcellent fit for this role and I am confident that this opportunity will have a significantmilestone in my career life.Excited to start this new journey!” -  Meera AlNaqbiThe Student Exchange Program is a new initiative by the Ministry of Economy incollaboration with leading universities of the UAE. Through this program, Emiratigraduates are given the opportunity to explore careers and cultivate their skills inareas important to the economy and economic growth.Two SBA graduates are part of the first cohort of this pioneer program.

school of business administrationSP TLIGHTThank you!S C H O O L O F B U S I N E S S A D M I N I S T R A T I O NA M E R I C A N U N I V E R S I T Y O F S H A R J A HM A Y , 2 0 2 2