BIO

I grew in Palestine. At the age of 15, I was part of a youth group that launched the first-ever youth newspaper in Palestine, which then grew to become one of the leading non-profit organization in the area, mainly focusing on empowering youth, specifically at-risk youth, and using media as a vehicle for alleviating the effects of the conflict and realizing rights and voice of young Palestinians. My academic and scholarly experience is largely influenced by my previous professional experience, as I study the role media, namely social and digital media, play in influencing people's psychology as it pertains to attitude and behavior change. My research primarily envisions a revising of our theoretical thinking regarding persuasion. In doing so, I've collaborated on a number of studies showcasing the significant and strong relationship between online engagement intentions and offline behavioral intentions in varying contexts. My nonprofit background also illuminates my pedagogical philosophy. The COVID-19 pandemic offered a remarkable opportunity to reevaluate my teaching philosophy, which is greatly informed by the humanizing pedagogy approach. Per this approach, I structure my courses in a way where me and my students "analyze, disrupt, and transform the inequitable histories and realities that often underpin" education by taking into the sociopolitical factors and student's lived experiences that shape knowledge acquisition and application.