University of New Haven – Riyadh Announces Its First Faculty Appointments

The University of New Haven – Riyadh (NHU-Riyadh) has recruited the first of its faculty ahead of opening this fall. Joining the University are Dr. Yassine Hmidy as assistant professor of practice in business analytics, Dr. Tynnetta Kelley as assistant professor of practice in communications, and Dr. Ali Smaili as assistant professor of practice in economics. Each will be part of the launch of NHU-Riyadh’s College of Business and Digital Innovation. Further appointments will follow.

Each faculty member holds an appointment on the professor of practice track, which is designed for professors whose first commitment is to classroom instruction and applied learning. It supports NHU-Riyadh’s hands-on approach and its commitment to classes being led by faculty whose focus is on teaching.

Dr. Hmidy holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence from the University of Montpellier and a master’s degree in applied mathematics, probability, and statistics from Sorbonne University. He led AI research at Capgemini’s Sogeti Labs, covering fraud detection, predictive modeling, and reliable artificial intelligence. He has also applied deep learning to satellite imagery as a machine learning engineer at Thales Alenia Space.

Dr. Kelley began her career in television news at Philadelphia’s ABC and FOX affiliates and as a radio news reporter before moving into higher education. She has taught for more than 20 years in the United States, China, Malaysia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, alongside holding communications and leadership roles in the nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors.

Dr. Smaili, an economist with degrees from the American University of Beirut, the University of Amsterdam, and Dalhousie University, researches applied development economics, with a special focus on how urbanization, housing quality, migration, and climate change shape one another.

“Our first professors in Riyadh have built AI systems for European industry, produced television news, and researched how cities grow,” said Jens Frederiksen, Ph.D., President of the University of New Haven. “They will bring that experience into the classroom from the first day of the first semester, creating a rich learning environment that supports the ambitious workforce development goals outlined in Vision 2030.”

“NHU-Riyadh is the first American university campus in the Kingdom, and it holds itself to a different benchmark: career-driven degrees and learning by doing,” said Leo Lester, Ph.D., senior vice president for NHU-Riyadh. “That is why we’re hiring faculty who put the classroom first, and it is why our first students will feel the difference in every class.”

NHU-Riyadh opens with the College of Business and Digital Innovation this fall. Applications for the opening semester are open.