Maia Mikashavidze is a media and communications professional, scholar and educator. She founded GIPA’s Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2001 and served as its dean until 2011. Under her leadership, the school expanded from a grant-based project designed to educate one hundred Caucasian journalists into one of the leading graduate schools in the Caucasus, launched student Radio GIPA FM and Frontline Media Club. In 2010, Mikashavidze co-founded Management Academy, an executive-level training program in Tbilisi, Georgia. Prior to 2000, Mikashavidze served as a press and information assistant in the Public Affairs section at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, where she was involved in media development projects. Mikashavidze has received two meritorious honor awards from the U.S. government, and grants and fellowship support from the US government and the Open Society Institute. She has provided expert media consulting services to the U.S. government, the European Union, the Council of Europe, OSCE, Freedom House, and other international and local organizations.Currently, Mikashavidze is a project director at Internews and is engaged in region-wide media support projects. She is also a professor of media and communication at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA). Maia Mikashavidze is the governing board member of Transparency International - Georgia. She holds Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of South Carolina, master’s degree in Public Administration from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, and specialist diploma from Tbilisi State Conservatoire.