12 Months, 12 Memories: My First Year in Dubai

On September 8, 2014 I opened for Lady Gaga. Well, not exactly: I landed in Dubai, UAE a few hours before Lady Gaga also arrived in Dubai for a concert at the Meydan Racecourse (on September 10). And so began my expat adventure as a full-time business professor. In the 12 months since I have exponentially grown personally and developed professionally. While I had previously traveled internationally, my experience was limited mostly to short trips to a handful of countries. Those early overseas trips certainly exposed me to a more global perspective, but living overseas has allowed me to experience a…

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Pedagogy, Socially: 7 Strategies for Curating and Creating Curriculum with Social Media

Social media has revolutionized the way we live, but how can we leverage it for learning? I had an opportunity to explore this during a presentation I delivered on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at the 2105 GESS Global Education Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Sharing seven strategies for curating and creating curriculum I promoted best practices and case studies you can use to prepare your pedagogy, socially. There is both uncertainty and opportunity with regard to using social media to power your pedagogy. Consider that, in 2013, 59.2% of nearly 8,000 higher education participants in a Babson Survey Research Group…

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Identifying and Achieving Individual Goals

How do you identify and achieve your goals? In the video below I presented an individual goal setting session at the Mid-Year Leadership Conference of Theta Chi Fraternity at UCLA on Saturday, February 23, 2013. Having helped found the (dearly departed) UC Santa Barbara chapter of Theta Chi it was an honor to participate in this event as an alumnus instructor. Since my birthday was the day before, it was a great gift to share my knowledge with undergraduate members of an organization I admire. As an undergraduate I attended several events like this so I was well aware how events like this can positively impact…

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Resolve to Evolve

“You say you want a revolution / Well, you know / We all want to change the world / You tell me that it’s evolution / Well, you know / We all want to change the world…” — The Beatles, Revolution Over the course of my life I’ve learned that nothing is certain — except the uncertainty of life. Yet, looking back, I also realized something essential to my philosophy of lifelong learning: I evolved. What does that mean? If you look at the definition, the word that pops out at me is “gradually.” This means change takes time and…

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A California Yankee in Sheikh Mohammed’s Court

“Welcome to Dubai.” After flying 9,357 miles from LAX and traveling for nearly 22 hours — including an almost 4 hour delay in Dulles (IAD) — I had arrived at Dubai International Airport (DXB) the evening of September 8, 2014. Coincidentally Lady Gaga  arrived that evening for her first UAE concert ever. Beginning a two year contract as a full time Lecturer in the College of Business Administration at Jumeira University, I awaited a brave new world of professional development  and personal growth. One quick month later, I have experienced that and more. Below are three of my initial  impressions — aka “teachable moments” — from my first month in Dubai. Each…

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