CU-Boulder Professor Bella Mody, an India native whose research and consulting work has focused on developing countries around the world, has joined the faculty as the first holder of the James E. de Castro Chair in Global Media Studies at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The de Castro chair, funded through a $1.5 million gift from James E. de Castro, a University of Colorado at Boulder alumnus, is the school's first endowed chair and one of the first of its kind in the nation.
"We are thrilled to have a scholar of Bella's stature joining us," said Paul Voakes, dean of the school. "We are seeing immediately how she will enhance our international research, our curriculum and even our international service." Mody said she is pleased with the critical-analytical approach of her colleagues at the School of Journalism.
Mody was born in India and grew up as a member of India's Catholic minority in various Indian cities. She credits the guidance of several educators at key stages in her life, including a liberation-theology oriented Catholic teacher, for her successful career that spans 30 years, several continents and work in advertising, public service media applications and U.S. academia.
Mody will work to further enhance the Third World international development dimensions of an already international curriculum at the School of Journalism. She will use the de Castro endowment to invite leading researchers and practitioners on the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America to guest-teach on cutting-edge topics, such as intellectual property rights, at CU-Boulder.
She also plans to conduct CU-Boulder workshops in developing countries on public-service applications of communication media for AIDS prevention and other issues.
Mody's research focuses on the politics and economics of media ownership and programming in developing countries. Her teaching, research and consulting experiences encompass numerous countries, including Barbados, Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Her international work has been funded by United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank. Projects include conducting audience research for the design of instructional television programs for villages in India and establishing a community radio station in Jamaica.
She earned a doctorate in psychology from Gujarat University in India and a master's in communication from the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to her appointment at CU-Boulder, Mody taught at Stanford University, San Francisco State University and Michigan State University. At Michigan State University for almost 20 years, Mody's posts included professor in the College of Communication and assistant dean of the Urban Affairs program.
The CU-Boulder School of Journalism and Mass Communication is one of only two accredited programs in journalism in Colorado and is the only one in the state to offer a full, integrated range of undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral studies.
For more information call (303) 492-5007, visit the school's Web site at and Professor Mody's web site at .