PALOMA MOHAMED, PhD

Dr. Paloma Mohamed is a Guyanese born behavioral scientist who was educated at the University of Guyana, Harvard University, and the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Her area of specialization is social and behavioral change specifically how communicative and cultural aspects of life are implicated in change.

 

She recently opened up two critical areas of behavioral research in Guyana interrogation the effects of new media and stigma. She returned to Guyana in 2007 to help re-establish the failing centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana and has despite major challenges remained passionately committed to UG’s progress in becoming a top ranking University. In doing so she has functioned in multiple roles: as a world class academic, researcher, beloved and inspirational teacher as well as a dedicated and courageous administrator.  

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As an academic Dr. Mohamed has produced and co-produced over 22 films and documentaries. She has also written and edited 11 books in addition to publishing in several academic journals.  Her academic books include Communication, Power and Change in the Caribbean (Hansib, 2012) and Notes on the Media in Guyana (LAP 2014). Her recent contributions “Letters from The Past: The Creole Guyana’s Second Coloured Newspaper (1856-1907) and National Consciousness and Notes of a Red Woman, Slightly Sane are expected before 2017.

 

As and administrator, Dr. Paloma has been Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences where she spearheaded the Faculty’s reformation process from 2012 to 2014.  Prior to that she became the first Director of the , Centre for Communication Studies, University of Guyana having created and run the Centre’s reform from 2007 to 2012 under the USAID funded Phenonix project with Ohio University and UNESCO. Dr. Paloma Mohamed became a member of the University of Guyana’s Council in 2013  and also served as Chair of The University’s 50th Anniversary Committee. 

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As a teacher, a job she describes as her “first and undying love”, she has supervised over 100 undergraduate and graduate research projects, taught hundreds of students in Guyana and abroad. She currently teaches research methods, social psychology and health behavior at the University of Guyana. Additionally she has worked as a collaborator or principal investigator on several major international research protocols and served as a technical strategic asset to various local and international organizations. In recognition of her work The University promoted her to tenured Senior Lecturer in 2010. This made her the most senior female academic on the campus at the time in terms of rank, apart from the Professors emeritus.

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Dr. Mohamed’s output as an artist, teacher and scientist have also been widely acknowledged outside of The University. Apart from 3 Guyana Prize for Literature awards Paloma Mohamed has won several local and international awards for her writing and mentoring work in education and culture including a Presidential Medal of Service in 2012 and the City of New York Award for Culture in 2013. She became the first woman Caribbean Laureate for Excellence in Arts and Letters in 2015 and was again recognized  for her work in education and culture with a National Arrow of Achievement in May 2015.  In 2015 she was recognized by the United States Embassy in Guyana as among the top 5 women in Guyana.

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Known for her inexhaustible energy, creativity, passion and selfless service “Doc” as she is sometimes called, has served on numerous national and international bodies including UNESCO, CXC, NCN and the Guyana Cultural Foundation. She is currently chair of the Theatre Guild of Guyana,  was a Founding Director of CineGuyana, Moray House Trust, Healing Arts Inc and The Institute for Peace Action.

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Her new position come October 1, in the newly created position of Deputy Vice Chancellor– PACE (Philanthropy, Alumni and Civic Engagement) will see her working to build the new structures, polices, systems and events needed for a robust endowment and engagement with UG’s 30000 alum and with local and international organizations in the multi-billion dollar enterprise of the University’s renaissance being espoused by new Vice Chancellor Prof. Ivelaw L. Griffith. In responding to the challenge of filling this new position Dr. Mohamed, says it is way out of her comfort zone as a teacher and researcher. In coping she recalls a concept by which she lives  from the para olympic prayer  encountered when she was a teenager. It says: “God help me to excel today, and if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt.”

 

Contact: Paloma Mohamed, PhD

Email: paloma.mohamed@uog.edu.gy