Ashiyan Ian (Ash) Rahmani Ph.D. (he/him)

As a Communications Lecturer at Cal State (in the SF Bay Area), since Jan. 2019, I teach courses on digital media, global communication, and international development/relations, drawing on my interdisciplinary background, and recent research on how mobile devices and community radio are used in empowerment processes by women leaders in Fiji. I was, most recently in Spring/Summer 2024, a Digital Media & Peace Innovation Fellow (hybrid) at the UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE), where I taught and explored the role of digital media in promoting peace in the world. I am currently a 2023/24 Council on Foreign Relations(CFR) inaugural Higher Education Ambassador and also serve on the leadership committee of the East-West Center Association Media Chapter.

I have over 25 years of teaching and working experience in the UK, China, Mexico, and the US/Hawai'i, with various academic, non-profit/NGO, and media organizations. I hold a Ph.D. in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), where I was an award-winning teacher, and a doctoral fellow with the Pacific ICTD Collaborative. I also have a Postgraduate Diploma in Software Engineering from the University of Oxford, an MA in the Chinese Business World from SOAS, London and a BSC in Computer Science and International Politics from Keele University. I speak some Mandarin Chinese, Farsi, and Spanish, and have presented my work at international conferences.