Associate Professor Hakeem Kasem, served as the Director of the Arabic Language and Culture Studies Department, in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University from 1989 to 2022..

He has pioneered a world first-class comprehensive Arabic Online program. In 2009, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) awarded him a National Teaching Excellence Award for pioneering this Arabic program that led to innovative and creative approaches to teaching foreign languages at tertiary level nationally. In 2008, he also received the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Students’ Learning for the development of innovative partnerships and approaches to supporting the expansion of Australian and In-Country learning for students of Arabic language and culture.

A/Professor Kasem’s research interests involve Arabic language and culture studies, blended learning, e-learning, second language acquisition and cross-cultural communication. He has contributed to numerous national and international conferences and published widely in international journals on issues related to second language acquisition, blended learning, language and culture studies, and cross-cultural communication.

Since April 2022, Associate Professor Kasem was appointed as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University.