Introduction
Teaching Interests
Research Interests
Educational Background
Schedule

Mohammad Auwal
Associate Professor

Office: Music Hall 207
Phone: 323-343-6036
FAX: 323-343-6467
Email: mauwal@calstatela.edu

INTRODUCTION

I grew up in Bangladesh. Soon after completing my undergraduate education, I worked for about seven years as a Civil Service official—first, as an information/public relations officer and, then, as an assistant director—in Bangladesh’s Ministry of Information. Eventually, I pursued graduate study at Ohio University and changed my career, which in the academia evolved as a rendezvous with my mission in life—a calling to explore and advocate moral intellectual excellence and social justice. I joined CSULA in fall 1994 and have since enjoyed working here. I met here some of the best human beings amongst my colleagues and students.

TEACHING INTERESTS

I look at teaching as an opportunity to probe and promote moral and intellectual excellence. I take an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach to pedagogy. I integrate the latest developments in inquiry and use “all there is to use” to advance understanding for students. In the classroom, I engage students in a dialectic that fosters both positive imaging and critical thinking. I was trained to be a generalist in the interdiscipline of Communication Studies. At CSULA, I have developed my teaching interests in the areas of Communication Theory, Intercultural Communication, Organizational Communication, and Public Relations.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I consider active pursuit of new knowledge as a goal to fulfill my calling in life. In an ideal world, knowledge is considered an end itself. I am, however, much more interested in socially useful knowledge, and hence I integrate epistemic and social activist interests in my inquiry using interpretive/critical methods. My early research projects focused on organizational communication and international development. Later, I developed in interest in the analysis of media and public policy. My current research projects include “Postmodern organizing in a traditional world: How Dubai shapes for the new economy” and “Postorientalism: Ending the nightmare of Islam.”

Representative Professional Activities

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Ph.D. Communication Theory 1994
Ohio University