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. He was instrumental in setting up the Sri Lanka College of Journalism in Colombo and has conducted workshops in reporting and editing for Sri Lankan journalists. 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 returned home after a lifetime abroad to undertake on behalf of the Malayala Manorama group, the task of running a world class school of journalism training. 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. Prof. Jotheendra Kumar worked for eight years as news editor for the Kerala Pathrika, a Thiruvananthapuram daily. He also worked for five years in  the News Division of Doordarshan Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, before joining the faculty of the Department of Communication and Journalism of  the University of Kerala in 1989. During his career at the university of Kerala, has 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). Prof. Jotheendra Kumar, who is a native of   Thiruvananthapuram, joined the MASCOM faculty in June 2008. Visitors Eminent visitors to MASCOM during this academic year included the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, His Excellency Archibald Lesao Lehohla;  Former Supreme Court Justice KT Thomas;  faculty member in the Department of Politics and International Relations of Oxford University, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira;  former Associated Press newsman and Stanford University Medical Centre media adviser Mike Goodkind,’  Fulbright scholar Michael Sonnietner, who is also Professor at Portland County College, USA; Brahma Kumari Spiritualist Michele Simon from Serbia; Professor Emeritus and economist Mathew Kurian, Gandhian Scholar and Former Head of School of Gandhian Thought and Development Studies of Mahatma Gandhi University;  MP Mathai, Mahatma Gandhi political scientist KM Seethi, Agricultural Scientist KG Padmakumar, MG University Social Scientist TS Girish Kumar, Environmental activist/scientist Jomy Augustine, Indian Constitution and Rights scholar K Vikraman Nair, MG University Bio-Technology Scientist B Prakash Kumar, Children’s rights scholar Sister Betsy, state Right to Information Commissioner V V Giri, retired head of the geoscience division of the Centre for Earth Science Studies PK Thambi, retired IG of CRPF George C Podipara; State Board of Pollution Control member KP Joy;  former head of the Film and Television Institute of India John Sankaramangalam, Swami Vishudananda and veteran journalists KM Roy and BC Jojo. Manorama School of Communication 2010