M. Hassan Wafai

I am an associate professor of operations and supply chain in the School of Business, Faculty of Management and I am currently leading the Doctor of Business Administration program, of which I was the lead designer.

I have extensive international experience; I worked in several countries in Europe, Canada and in the Middle East. I joined RRU in 2013 as an assistant professor. Since then, I have been very active in teaching, researching and providing service to the university and faculty, including my active involvement in RRUFA as a member at large. 

Prior to leading the DBA Program, I led the Master of Global Management program and played an instrumental role with my colleagues in making this program the largest one at RRU.

My research and scholarly activities reflect my professional and academic development over the past nine years. My research is within the areas of global value chains, technology and knowledge transfer, innovation management, lean applications and construction management. I am investigating the relationship between management-related innovation and resilience in Canadian organizations. In addition to my academic experience, I have extensive international professional experience working as a project manager and consultant in various manufacturing and service industries.

In terms of teaching, I teach in different programs, including undergraduate, master and doctoral programs. I am committed to RRU’s learning, teaching, and research model, focusing on the three core values: 1) applied and authentic, 2) caring and community-based, and 3) transformational. I do believe that teaching is a responsibility and passion, and faculty may approach teaching differently. I am always keen to learn different teaching approaches and techniques.

Like most RRU faculty, I have been involved in numerous administrative and service activities and program designs, including the UCPC committee, Academic Council, various programs’ steering committees, Student Award adjudication committee, Honorary Doctoral Awards committee etc. 

While I enjoy working with staff and faculty on academic-administrative and service-related activities, I recognize the heavy administrative load that every RRU faculty has to deal with and its potential impact on teaching and research activities. My involvement in RRUFA as a member at large helped me develop a fair and balanced approach to interpreting our collective agreement in the way best supports faculty.

In the absence of an Academic Senate at RRU, I believe the academic council plays a critical role in creating collegial governance at RRU. I would be honoured to join the AC and continue supporting RRU's academic mission.