University of New Haven – Riyadh Appoints Preeminent Saudi Academic Leader as Founding Campus Dean

The University of New Haven – Riyadh (NHU-Riyadh) has appointed Dr. Mohammed Alshagawi as its founding Campus Dean. Dr. Alshagawi, a Saudi academic leader whose career combines two decades of institution-building in the Kingdom with more than a decade of teaching and research in the United States, joins NHU-Riyadh on 26 July, ahead of the campus opening this fall.

Dr. Alshagawi previously served as dean of the School of Business at King Faisal University, where he led six departments and eight programs with a faculty of 120. He was a member of the founding team of the KAPSARC School of Public Policy, the first school of public policy in Saudi Arabia. He directed its Master of Public Policy program, working with leading scholars in public policy from top U.S. universities.

A former Fulbright Visiting Scholar, he has taught and conducted research at Smith College in Massachusetts since 2012, and he holds a Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. His expertise spans accreditation, curriculum development, institutional planning, and international academic partnerships.

As founding Campus Dean, Dr. Alshagawi will be the senior on-site academic and student affairs leader. He is responsible for the delivery of NHU-Riyadh’s academic programs, faculty affairs, student life, and student success, as well as the campus’s accreditation and quality assurance under both U.S. and Saudi frameworks. He will serve as the principal academic liaison in Riyadh, interfacing with the University’s home campus in Connecticut, as NHU-Riyadh becomes the first U.S. international branch campus to open in Saudi Arabia.

“Dr. Alshagawi has spent his career on both sides of the bridge we are building,” said Jens Frederiksen, Ph.D., President of the University of New Haven. “He has distinguished himself leading a Saudi business school, and he has and taught for more than a decade in New England. He knows what our students’ families expect, he knows what American accreditors require, and he has helped build academic institutions from their first day. We could not ask for a better founding dean.”

“I have spent my career helping to build new academic institutions in the Kingdom, and I have seen what Saudi students achieve when a university supports and invests in their ambitions,” said Dr. Alshagawi. “To lead NHU-Riyadh from its first day is the privilege of a lifetime. My commitment to our first students and their families is a campus where American higher education and Saudi talent bring out the best in each other.”

“Dr. Alshagawi has opened programs, earned accreditations, and recruited faculty,” said Leo Lester, Ph.D., senior vice president for NHU-Riyadh. “He understands and embraces the work ahead of us in its every detail. What ultimately resonated most was how he talks about students. Our first cohort will be led by a dean who measures the success of a university by the experiences it delivers in and out of the classroom.”

NHU-Riyadh opens this fall at Misk City with the College of Business and Digital Innovation, the first of three colleges planned in Riyadh.