Ashiyan Ian (Ash) Rahmani Ph.D. (he/him)
AI/Digital Media and Peace Innovation Communications Faculty
Ashiyan Ian (Ash) Rahmani, Ph.D. is an award-winning educator and researcher working at the intersection of digital media, artificial intelligence, and peace innovation. Since 2019, he has served as online communications faculty within the California State University system, teaching at CSU East Bay and San José State University. His teaching and scholarship focus on online pedagogy, media theory, and the social implications of emerging technologies.
He also serves as an online volunteer instructor in the MA in Media Studies at the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), supporting access to higher education in restricted and constructive resilience contexts.
Dr. Ash's academic training spans leading institutions in the United Kingdom and the United States, shaping his interdisciplinary and globally grounded approach to communication studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His doctoral research examined digital inclusion and participatory communication, with a central component involving field research in Fiji. This work explored how digital media can support community development, social cohesion, and women’s leadership in Pacific Island contexts. His ongoing research explores AI, digital media, and inclusive knowledge systems, with a focus on advancing a more equitable and participatory digital future, for peace innovation. He also holds a Master of Arts from SOAS University of London, a Postgraduate Diploma from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Sciences from Keele University.
Dr. Ash has held several relatively recent roles that bridge academia, international policy, and global education, including Digital Media and Peace Innovation Fellow at the UN-mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica), Higher Education Ambassador with the Council on Foreign Relations, Affiliate Scholar at the East-West Center (Honolulu), & volunteer at the Baha'i International Community - UN Office in New York. He has also contributed as an online volunteer educator with Starfish Girls School in The Gambia and hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, with summers in California, and of Persian descent, Ash is a dual British–U.S. citizen with over 25 years of global professional experience, including in Europe, China & Mexico. His work reflects a bridge-building approach to communication, grounded in academic rigor and based on values of universal education, social justice, and global interdependence/unity in diversity. He is a husband and father, and his wife is from Mexico.
Contact: ashrahmani [at] gmail [dot] com