The International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), a worldwide professional organization in the field of media and communication research, has invited Teresa Nicolás Gavilán, PhD, institutional director of Educational Innovation at the Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City campus, to join the International Council of IAMCR.
In this way, Dr. Nicolás has become the only Mexican woman present in this governing body of the IAMCR and one of only three women from all of Latin America to be a member.
Recognition and commitment to IAMCR
For Dr. Nicolás, collaborating with the IAMCR is nothing new. Since 2010 she has been a member of its Ethics of Society and Ethics of Media group. In 2011 she was first elected as vice-chair of that group and from 2015 to 2022 she served as chair of the group.
During the current year she received an invitation from colleagues in her group to run for membership in the International Council, and it was with the support of the other members of this body that she was elected in July.
She says that, on a personal level, her new role fills her with joy and commitment at the same time. “Joy, because after working for more than 13 years in this institution, cooperating in the promotion of media ethics, it represents appreciation and recognition by my colleagues, (…),” she shares.
She adds: “It seems to me that this is a way of recognizing the importance of researchers who seek to promote ethics in the practice of the profession.”
On her new role, she said: “My commitment to the institution is even stronger now, and I believe that it is also with the Universidad Panamericana, since it is represented in this body.”
Educating with the Media
She states that her main areas of interest in communication research are the representation of women in the media, especially in serial fiction; the representation of lifestyles and ethical proposals in television series and, thirdly, education for and with the media.
“With my presence in the International Council I will strive to promote an ethical vision, i.e., of successful living, a promotion of values, of an objective representation and aspiration of women, as well as awareness of the need to educate for the media and especially with the media nowadays,” she explains.
Challenges and Opportunities
Similarly, the director of Panamericana’s Institutional Center for Educational Innovation is aware that her new role at the IAMCR brings both challenges and opportunities with it.
The first she talks about is to give visibility to different sectors of the global network: “From the International Council we have the decision to approve the places where the annual meetings will be held, thus allowing the focus to be placed on different geographic areas of our world,” she states.
As a second challenge, she reveals that it is up to the same Council “to make statements on radiantly topical issues affecting colleagues in the field of communication.”
The third challenge is to “choose a global theme that will allow the academic community to provide contributions from different approaches and seek proposals for solutions.”
Panamerican Perspective
As a global organization, the IAMCR brings media researchers together from different countries and contexts. In this sense, thanks to her academic and professional experience at Panamericana, she will have the opportunity to contribute her unique perspective to the discussions and decisions of the International Council.
“My experience in the university comes from my time as a student, and now as a teacher, advisor and director. The ideal of the university is not for me a goal to achieve, but a conviction, that is, an idea stuck in my heart, and that perspective influences my proposals and work,” she says.
She concludes: “I, in my way of acting and behaving, try to take the ideal (of the Panamericana mission) of knowing the truth and committing myself to it wherever I work.”
Researcher’s data
Dr. Teresa Nicolás Gavilán
Institutional Director of Educational Innovation
Universidad Panamericana Mexico Campus
National System of Researchers level II
