JONES COLLEGE ALL★STARS
SAM ZAZA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ANALYTICS Sam Zaza is passionate about serving and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Her research interests all reflect her role as an advocate. Whether she is exploring issues of social responsibility through innovation and sustainability, finding ways to encourage firstgeneration students and underserved populations to explore careers in STEM, studying gender inequality in STEM, or working toward DEI in the Global South and developing countries, it is clear Zaza has found her calling in helping others through her work. “My belief in DEI drives me to serve regionally and globally,” she said.
WHILE I KNOW I CAN POSITIVELY IMPACT MY STUDENTS’ LIVES . . . THEY IMPACT MY LIFE, TOO. Zaza is a reviewer for half a dozen information systems journals and conferences, along with serving as president of the Social Inclusion special interest group of the Association for Information Systems (AIS). She works with her team to organize professional development symposiums with the goal of engaging with information systems scholars, educators, and practitioners about social inclusion practices related to research, teaching, and service. “We deliver talks about various topics such as designing and conducting diversity-focused and socially inclusive research, cultivating an inclusive classroom, and designing inclusive curriculum,” she said. “We seek to empower academics and industry partners with actionable steps to enhance their diversity and inclusion practices.”
38 | ENTERPRISE
In recent years, Zaza has been internationally recognized for her efforts. Along with international grants and MTSU faculty recognition, she received the Leadership Award from the Middle East and North Africa AIS chapter and the Best Service Award from the Middle East and North Africa Conference on Information Systems in 2021. Zaza believes one of MTSU’s greatest strengths is the diversity of the student body, with a substantial population being first generation and nontraditional. She wants to bring an even greater diversity of thought and experience to her students through virtual exchange and study abroad programs. She is an advocate for disenfranchised groups and seeks to provide support and guidance for this population to accommodate their personal situations. “I have a passion for teaching and advising on career choices and opportunities. Teaching is a journey of continuous improvement. While I know I can positively impact my students’ lives and careers, in every semester, they impact my life, too,” Zaza said. “When I reflect about my journey as a teacher since I joined MTSU in 2018, I realize how much I grew as a person. Being around our students made me more culture-sensitive and gender-bias cognizant. All of this is reflected on how I develop my course examples and syllabi to be more inclusive and more welcoming to a diverse spectrum of students. . . . I am always thankful to my students for making me who I am.” Zaza and her family—husband Mazhar and children Sarah, 12, and Noah, 11—enjoy baseball, soccer, hiking, and traveling to experience other cultures, music, and food.
