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

Digital Media, Peace Innovation/IR, and International Development Faculty

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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 2023, 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 (EWCA) Media Chapter.

I have over 25 years of teaching and working experience in the UK (where I was born and raised), China, Mexico (where my wife is from), 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 (matriculated at Kellogg for the M.Sc. and did the thesis but started the Ph.D. before finishing), 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. I'm a member of the Baha'i Faith.

e: arahmani [at] hawaii [dot] edu

  • Work
    • CSU-East Bay & SJSU
  • Education
    • Keele University
    • SOAS, University of London
    • University of Oxford
    • University of Hawaii at Manoa
    • UN-mandated University for Peace