Zeinab Karake Directory Page

Zeinab Karake is a seasoned higher education professional and a clinical professor of information systems in the Department of Operations and Information Technology at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park. From 2021 to 2024, she served as the Associate Dean for Culture and Community at the Smith School.

Previously, Zeinab was director of research at the Dubai International Financial Centre in the United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2010, where she helped establish an integrated research unit. Before that, she held several leadership positions at the American University of Sharjah, including associate dean, division director, chair, and professor. She was among the pioneers who helped build the university from the ground up.

From 1989 to 2001, Zeinab was a tenured business professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. She also served as an assistant professor in the School of Business at George Washington University from 1986 to 1989.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and research, as well as a master’s degree in management and economics from Catholic University (1982). She earned a Ph.D. in management information/decision systems and international finance from George Washington University (1987). She also completed postdoctoral programs at MIT in 1996, 1997, and 2000 and was a visiting scholar at INSEAD in 2006.

Zeinab has authored numerous articles, monographs, and reviews, as well as eight books, including:

• Technology and Developing Economies (Praeger, 1990)
• Information Technology and Managerial Control (Praeger, 1992)
• Organizational Downsizing, Discrimination, and Corporate Social Responsibility (Quorum, 1999)
• Trust and Loyalty in Electronic Commerce: An Agency Theory Perspective (Quorum, 2002)
• The Diffusion of Electronic Commerce in Developing Economies: A Resource-Based Approach (Edward Elgar, 2007) [translated into Arabic and Spanish]
• Cyber Law and Cyber Security in Emerging and Developing Economies (Edward Elgar, 2010)
• Managing People and Wealth: The New Post-Oil Arab Gulf, with N. Sultan and David Weir (Al Saqi, 2011)
• Enforcing Cyber Security Policies in Emerging Economies: Institutions, Laws and Policies (2019)

She also served as the North American editor for Management Decision Journal and Logistics Information Management Journal.

Awards and Honors

• Two-time recipient of the Emerald/MCB University Press International Excellence Research Award (1995, 2002)
• Recipient of the American University of Sharjah Excellence in Service Award (2001)
• Founding president of the American University of Sharjah Faculty Senate (2000–2002)
• Recipient of the Best Researcher Award from AUS (2003)
• Recipient of the Emirates Businesswomen Award for Innovation, sponsored by Shell Oil Co. (2007)
• Recipient of the Merrill Presidential Scholar Award (University of Maryland, 2023)
• Recipient of the Smith Staff Award (University of Maryland, Spring 2023 and Spring 2024)
• Multiple-time recipient of the University of Maryland Distinguished Teaching Award
• Recipient of the Krowe Teaching Award
• Recipient of the Faculty of Distinction Award

In addition to her work as a consultant, researcher, administrator, professor, writer, and editor, Zeinab has developed and delivered training programs for American and international managers. She also served as a resource specialist for ESCWA/The United Nations.