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April 5, 2024
Marwan M. Kraidy, a leading authority on Arab media, has been named dean and CEO of Northwestern University-Qatar (NU-Q), Provost Jonathan Holloway announced today. Kraidy will start as dean July 1.
Kraidy, who serves as associate dean for administration and professor of global communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), also will hold a named chair and a tenured appointment.
Holloway said Kraidy emerged from a global search of highly respected, prominent candidates.
“I am very excited to appoint Marwan Kraidy as the dean of NU-Q,” Holloway said. “In our search for a leader to fill this vitally important role, it quickly became clear that Marwan was the right person to guide NU-Q in this critical time. I am thrilled for Marwan and for our Qatar campus. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead and to advocate for all members of the NU-Q community.”
Kraidy also serves as Annenberg’s associate dean for graduate studies. In 2013 he founded the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC), a leading institute for advanced study that hosts faculty, postdoctoral and undergraduate fellows, and publishes cutting-edge research. As CARGC’s director, Kraidy led multidisciplinary teams of scholars in research on enduring issues in global media, politics and culture.
A native of Lebanon and an authority on Arab media, Kraidy has for more than two decades taught and published award-winning research about the Middle East. He has a deep knowledge of the region and is fluent in Arabic and other languages.
“I am honored and delighted to be the next NU-Q dean.” Kraidy said. “The future of education is global, interdisciplinary, and digital. With its formidable faculty, talented staff and bright students, NU-Q is uniquely positioned to shape that future. I look forward to leading this special community to new heights, and deepen our impact on Northwestern and the world.”
He said that as NU-Q moves confidently into its second decade, it is poised to be an important catalyst in global education.
“As a campus of a preeminent U.S. university embedded in a region with impressive and fast-changing media industries and educational institutions, NU-Q can play a transformative role in shaping the circulation of knowledge between Africa, Asia and the Americas, and in deepening mutual understanding between the United States and the Arab and Islamic worlds,” Kraidy said.
Kraidy succeeds Craig LaMay, who has served as acting dean since December. LaMay, who served on the NU-Q dean search committee, will return to his duties as a professor in residence at NU-Q on July 1.
LaMay has been serving as acting dean since Everette Dennis went on family leave. Dennis had been NU-Q’s dean since June 2011, leading the Doha-based school through an era of tremendous growth, with record enrollments and an expanding base of research that has impacted Qatar, the region and the world.
Before deciding to go on family leave, Dennis had announced he would step down as NU-Q’s dean July 1 and plans to return to the faculty at Northwestern next year through his tenured faculty appointment at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
A vocal advocate for the arts and humanities, Kraidy was a member of the International Advisory Board of the National Museum of Qatar and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Council of Learned Societies in New York.
Kraidy holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from Ohio University, where he also earned his master’s degree. He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication arts from Notre-Dame University in Louaizé, Lebanon, and his Lebanese Baccalaureate in humanities at Saint Joseph College in Antoura, Lebanon. He also holds a French Baccalaureate in Letters and Languages.
