Mia Moody-Ramirez is a professor and chair of the Baylor University Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media in the College of Arts & Sciences. She joined the faculty of Baylor University in 2001 and has maintained an active research portfolio in addition to her teaching, mentorship and leadership roles. 

Moody-Ramirez’s research emphasizes image repair, intersectionality, critical race theory, and media framing of women and people of color. The author and co-author of four books, she has also been widely published in various academic journals, including Journalism Mass Communication Quarterly, Howard Journal of Communication, Journalism Educator, Journal of Black Studies, and Public Relations Review.

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During her tenure as the department chair, she has had the privilege of working with an amazing team of faculty and staff. Together, they have achieved many milestones, including re-accreditation by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) in 2022, the successful launch of a broadcast sequence in 2023, the introduction of updated concentrations and curriculum, and the endowment of several scholarships. Efforts have resulted in job placement and first-year student recruitment rates of 90-100% for multiple semesters.

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She is currently on the A&S Deans Executive Chair Committee, an affiliate faculty member of Baylor University's Ethnic Studies and Women and Gender Studies programs, and a member of the Faculty and Staff of Color Association (FOCA) and BFSA (Black Faculty and Staff Association).

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In the past, she played a leadership role in the following: Baylor United Way Fundraising campaign Co-chair for two years ($94,000 raised), Co-chair of the Arts & Sciences Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee. She served on Baylor's Commission on Historic Campus Representations, Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Underrepresented Racial Minorities (URM) Faculty Experience Working Group.
 

She has been the adviser of the Baylor National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) since 2003. She is the honoree of the Moody-Ramirez Belden Endowed Scholarship for Diversity in Journalism, which is given to students who are members of NABJ-Baylor. She has been honored with several awards, including Baylor's 2020 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year and Baylor's Newsmaker Award. She was also a Baylor Research Fellow. 

Discipline-Wide Leadership 

Moody-Ramirez is an active member of AEJMC. She was Head of AEJMC's Minorities and Communication Division for two years and secretary for the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women for three years. She served on the 2018 AEJMC strategic planning committee, various fundraising and ad-hoc committees, and numerous other roles. She was an elected member of the PF&R committee and served as the Vice Head of the Commission on the Status of Minorities and the elected teaching committee.  

She is the recipient of various AEJMC honors, including the Barrow Minority Doctoral Student Scholarship, the Outstanding Woman in Journalism award, the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education, and a 2019 Fellow in the AEJMC Institute for Diverse Leadership.  

Her journalism experience includes working as a Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer, Elegant Woman magazine's editor and publisher, and Stevens Publishing's managing editor. She is the social media chair of the Western Area Links, Incorporated. She has served in many roles in the Waco Central Texas Chapter of the organization, including chairing the ACE Baylor Links Digital Media Program for students in Hearne in Calvert, which she initiated in 2023. She is also a lifetime member of Jack & Jill of America, Inc. She served as President of the Waco chapter for several years while her children were active members. 

She received her B.A. in journalism from Texas A&M University, her M.A. in journalism from Baylor University, her M.S.Ed.. in Educational Psychology, and her Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.  

She is the proud mother of Heidi, a pastry chef, Tim and Bill, both students at Baylor.