When the iSchool’s newest Associate Professor, Hala Annabi, had just graduated from high school in Amman, Jordan, back in the mid-1990s, she loved the idea of studying overseas, but couldn’t imagine how her circumstances would ever allow it.

“I thought coming to the U.S. was a pipe dream,” she said. “But it happened in a very serendipitous way.”

She shared her interest with a family friend, a priest who mentioned he’d helped other students go abroad to study. After asking her mother’s permission, he recommended Annabi to the president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York — who just happened to be in Amman at a conference of Jesuit university leaders.

“A few months later I was in Syracuse, with an academic scholarship,” Annabi said. “It was such good fortune.”

Annabi made the most of it, earning a B.S. and M.S. in Business Administration at Le Moyne, along with winning multiple awards and scholarships. She also met a mentor, Dr. Martha Grabowski, whose example convinced her that teaching and academic research was the career and life path she wanted to follow. 

Annabi’s next stop was Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, where she earned her Doctorate in Information Science and Technology. While there, she honed her teaching and research skills, and fine-tuned the areas of study she wanted to pursue.

In 2004, she landed her first academic position — as an assistant professor at the iSchool. It was a time of profound change and evolution for the school, as it transformed from a library sciences focus to become one of the first modern information schools in the country.

“When I first came here, there was such a spirit of innovation, and a desire to impact the world in a meaningful way,” Annabi said. “I grew a deep appreciation and love not only for the iSchool, but also for the University of Washington.”

Annabi taught at the iSchool from 2004 to 2007, making her mark as one of the founders of the Institute for Innovations in Information Management (I3M), which has since evolved into the iAffiliates Program.

In 2007, she accepted a position at Ohio University’s College of Business, where she served until 2015 as assistant and associate professor, later chair, of Management Information Systems, and was founding director of Ohio’s College of Business Honors Program.

Then, in 2014, her husband, Sean McGann, was offered a position at the iSchool as Senior Lecturer, MSIM Program Chair, and iAffiliates Director.

“Coming back to the iSchool was something I’ve always been open to, and this was a great opportunity for us to work in an exciting place together,” Annabi said. “The iSchool community has changed and grown, and there’s so many exciting new things taking place. It’s also nice to see that all our core values — the innovative, entrepreneurial nature of the faculty and the program, our focus on interdisciplinary work, and student involvement in both our teaching and in our research activities — continues to improve and get better.”

Annabi brings a broad range of research expertise to her new role at the iSchool. Her primary areas of scholarship include the impact of ICT on organizational learning, the retention and development of women in IT, IS enrollment and pedagogy, and leadership development pedagogy.

Annabi says she’s been intrigued for more than 20 years by the impact of information technology, including social media, on organizational learning, and is sometimes surprised by persistent gaps in the way these technologies are applied.

“We’re still not capitalizing on the benefits and possibilities of social media tools in a more systematic way,” Annabi said. “It means companies are still not getting the best return on their investment. After all these years, our efforts are still fragmented.”

Annabi said one possible solution might be better integration of collaboration and social media tools.

“But it’s really less about the tools and more about the strategies and processes organizations put in place to use the tools,” Annabi said. “These tools enable us to connect in many different ways. But are they enabling us to think and learn more deeply? Because that’s what leads us to innovation and changes in paradigm.”

In terms of her work on the retention and advancement of women in IT, Annabi said she’s heartened to see such a strong percentage of women students at the iSchool — much greater than the national average.

“What the iSchool has done in terms of recruitment for more technical degrees like Informatics is remarkable,” Annabi said. “We have an enrollment of 40+ percent women, compared to around 18-20 percent elsewhere. Promoting women in IT is a value that the leadership of the iSchool have had for a very long time, and we do a really good job of demonstrating our commitment.”

Annabi’s other primary field of study is information systems and leadership development pedagogy — and she hopes to bring that expertise directly into her classrooms.

“As someone who’s studied learning both from an academic and professional viewpoint, I see my role as someone who facilitates student learning,” Annabi said. “A lot of my activities and my pedagogies are experiential and social. They’re highly influenced by communities of inquiry. I see teaching as creating space so a context can emerge for deeper learning.”

Along those lines, Annabi’s students can expect a lot of active learning, and very little passive lecturing in her classes. The emphasis will be on reading, work outside of class, and collaboration on projects and discussion in the classroom.

Annabi cites the main pillar of her teaching philosophy as compassion. She believes that emphasis helps make deeper learning possible in her classes.

‘You have to be ready to engage in discourse and activities to reach higher levels of learning, alongside of your teammates, classmates, and instructor,” Annabi said. “That requires building trust and a sense of community. That’s where compassion comes in. It’s about providing a space where students feel safe, engaged, excited, and daring, so they can experiment and put their ideas out there. You have to be compassionate towards them and learn more about them — so you can create the right standards and expectations.”