Raman, Usha

I’ve been associated with IAMCR intermittently for close to three decades, being able to attend and present only occasionally--my first time in 1985 in New Delhi. In 2013, I had an opportunity to become more closely involved with the Association, when my Department put in a bid and was selected to host the conference in Hyderabad in 2014. This experience not only gave me an “inside” view of the challenges of sustaining a large, distributed, and diverse association, but also some understanding of the mechanisms that keep it going. The Executive Board and the International Council bear the primary responsibility for this, of course with inputs of the section and working group chairs and the larger membership. As the discipline shifts and grows in response to political, social and cultural realities, it helps to have a broad view that, while cognizant of the global, takes into account academic and industry dynamics of the regional and local. The current International Council does not include any members from South-East Asia, and I think I would be able to bring an important additional perspective to the group that is conscious of regional interests in relation to scholarship and pedagogy in the field. 

Nominated by

• Pradip Thomas, University of Queensland, Australia
• Vinod Pavarala, University of Hyderabad, India
• Kanchan Malik, University of Hyderabad, India
• Kaarle Nordenstreng, Tampere University, Finland
• Marjan de Bruin, Jamaica