Rima Karami



Rima Karami Akkary ( In Arabic ريما كرامي عكّاري ) holds the position of associate professor in Educational Administration, and Policy studies within the Department of Education at the American University of Beirut. Additionally, she serves as the program advisor for the Educational Management and Leadership program.

Early life and education
Rima was born on May 6, 1967, and raised in Tripoli, Lebanon. Both of her parents have college degrees and were employed in lawful posts. She entered in 1984 American University of Beirut (AUB) to study for a bachelor's in science- Chemistry (earned in 1987), a Diploma for teaching science at the secondary level (1987), and then a Master of Arts in Science Education (1990). Then, she left for Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA where she acquired a Doctorate in Education with a specialty in [K-12] Educational Administration and Supervision with a focus on school principal-ship, organizational change, and educational policy in 1997.

Career
She has been serving as the editor for the special issues of the Manhajiyat educational journal since July 2021 until the present. It is an interactive electronic educational journal that explores learning in all schools from early childhood to grade 12.

Rima Karami has been in complete charge of directing TAMAM since 2015, concurrently overseeing its research and development endeavors. TAMAM is growing into an educational Movement that spans 8 Arab countries with its purpose of school-based reform.

She is the chair of the executive committee in the Shamaa database. She holds the role of overseeing various tasks, including approving the work program and budget, making decisions on development plans, securing funding, appointing members of the executive committee and administrative staff, and establishing working committees.

She is a member of the Lebanese Association for Educational Studies (LAES) founded in 1995. LAES is a non-government, non-profit society with its main issue is improving the education structure in Lebanon.

She is the coordinator for the Education sector in Khaddit Beirut. She is committed to effecting positive change, motivated by a vision of optimism and potential, and actively involved in shaping the future educational system that the children of this nation deserve.

Research interests
Her research interests are as follows: reform initiatives at the school level, enduring enhancements to school performance, professional growth, school administration, responsibilities of school leaders, and action-oriented research.

Teaching interests
Her teaching interests are as follows: educational leadership, overseeing instruction, sustainable school change, qualitative inquiry, and multicultural learning approaches

H-index
Rima's H-index is 10.

Awards
Rima won the Teaching Excellence award in May 2015 from the American University of Beirut for her dedication and achievement. In July 2018, she received the BELMAS Reflective Practice Award for the Second Place Certificate in recognition of the TAMAM project professional development model that she designed. Lately, in October 2022, she won 2022 the UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for Teacher Development for creating an impact in the Arab region.

Refereed journal publications

 * Karami Akkary, R. (2014). Facing the challenges of educational reform in the Arab world. Journal of Educational Change, 15, 179–202.
 * Ghosn, E. and Akkary, R.K. 2020. "The struggle of Lebanese teacher unions in a neoliberal period", Research in Educational Administration and Leadership, vol.5, no.1, pp-275-322
 * Karami-Akkary, R. 2019. "Evaluating teacher professional learning in the Arab region; the experience of the TAMAM project" , Teaching and Teacher Education, vol.85, pp-137-147
 * Karami-Akkary, R. . and Deknight, J. 2019. "Educational Reform as Design-Based Research: The Case of a Project Implemented in Arab Countries" , International Journal of Educational Reform

Books and book chapters

 * Karami-Akkary, R. and Khattab, Y. "TAMAM model for Building Leadership Capacity for School-Based Reform in the Arab Region. In E. Anderson, & S. D. Hayes (Eds.), Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement, 2023
 * Mahfouz, J. and Karami-Akkary, R. "Principalship in Lebanon: The unsung heroes". In K. Arar, S. Turan, S. Gümüs, A. Sellami, & J. Mahfouz (Eds.), Demystifying Educational Leadership and Administration in the Middle East and North Africa: Challenges and Prospects, Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2023