The Faculty  The MASCOM faculty consists of a core group of instructors headed bythe Director. Guest faculty is selected from the best in the media. Director K Thomas Oommen has been teaching aspiring journalists from many countries for more than three decades. He has been on the faculty as Head of Department or Dean at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, the Times Research Foundation’s Institute of Journalism, the University of Swaziland and the Asian College of Journalism. He has also been a visiting Professor at the University of Kerala and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. As a professional journalist, he has worked as a reporter or sub-editor for the Free Press Journal, the Ethiopian Ministry of Information, a number of newspapers in the United States, The Associated Press and as managing editor of Down to Earth magazine. A native of Kottayam, Prof. Oommen has returned home to undertake on behalf of the Malayala Manorama group, the task of running a world class school of journalism training. Faculty Geoji T Samuel capped a 25-year career as a journalist with the Malayala Manorama by switching to teaching journalism at MASCOM. He is primarily responsible for journalism instruction in Malayalam and for coordinating the adjunct faculty. Prof. Samuel holds an MA Degree with fi rst class from Kerala University, Karivattom Campus, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism awarded by the Trivandrum Press Club. After brief stints with the Deepika Daily in Kottayam and Thrissur, Prof. Samuel joined the Malayala Manorama in 1981 as a sub-editor trainee and rose through the ranks to head the paper’s Local Desk. He continues to write a regular column for Manorama Online. Prof. Samuel is the author of “Snehathinte Pinvili” and was the first winner of the Kerala Government’s development journalism award for his 1983 series “Velicham Thedunnavar”. Faculty V K Jotheendra Kumar comes to MASCOM with a Master’s Degree in Journalism with First Class from the University of Kerala, a postgraduate diploma in journalism and with many years of practical work experience in both print and television journalism and in teaching journalism at the university level. Jotheendra Kumar worked for eight years as news editor for the Kerala Pathrika, a Thiruvananthapuram daily. He also worked for fi ve years in the News Division of Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, before joining the faculty of the Department of Communi- cation and Journalism of the University of Kerala in 1989. During his career at the university of Kerala, he served as a resource person for the State Council for Education Research and Training in Thiruvananthapuram and on academic bodies of Kerala, Calicut and Kannur universities. Jotheendrakumar was also a member of the guest faculty at the Kerala Institute of Rural Development and C-DIT (Centre for Developing Imaging Technology). Jotheendra Kumar, who is a native of Thiruvananthapuram, joined the MASCOM faculty in June 2008. Visitors Eminent visitors to MASCOM last academic year included former Supreme Court Justice KT Thomas; former Indian Ambassador to Kuwait BMC Nair, former UN deputy secretary general Shashi Tharoor; gay rights activist Peter Anning; children’s rights scholar Sister Betsy; state Right to Information Commissioner VV Giri; marine scientist and member of the Indian research station in Antarctica KJ Mathew; Kerala University political scientist J Prabash; Indian Constitution scholar VD Sebastian; head of British Deputy High Commission press and public relations section R Fernandez; nuclear scientist George Samuel; former head of the Geoscience division of the Centre for Earth Science Studies PK Thambi; President of the Indian Association for Social Psychiatry Dr. Roy Abraham Kallivayalil; Brig (rtd) T Varghese, IG (rtd) of CRPF George C Podipara; state Board of Pollution Control member KP Joy; animal rights activist Avis Lyon; Swami Vishudananda; Swami Bodhananda Saraswati; former head of the Film and Television Institute of India John Sankaramangalam and veteran journalist KM Roy. Manorama School of Communication 2009