Mariam Betlemidze

Mariam Betlemidze (she/her) (Ph.D., University of Utah) is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media at California State University, San Bernardino, where she co-founded the new B.A. in Journalism. Her research and teaching specializations include journalism and media studies, community-engaged and public-facing journalism, race and gender in media, generative AI and communication education, and critical approaches to media, technology, and social change. Her scholarship has appeared in the Journal of Media Education, Social Media + Society, the International Journal of Communication, Media, Culture & Society, the Journal of Communication Inquiry, and Women’s Studies in Communication, among other publications.

Before beginning her academic career, Dr. Betlemidze worked as a journalist in Georgia and throughout the South Caucasus. She co-founded Go Group Media, a nonprofit media organization associated with JAM News. At CSUSB, she advised the independent student newspaper Coyote Chronicle from 2016 to 2021 and currently serves on the Inland Empire Student Newswire Advisory Board. She was voted Most Valuable Professor by CSUSB student-athletes and received the Faculty Mentor Award from the Office of Student Research in 2022. In 2026, she was recognized as a Center for Community News Faculty Champion and received the Exceptional Service to Students Award.