Raymond Anderson, Ph.D., is a new associate professor of communication at the University of Guam.

You might hear students call him by his nickname “P.Ray”–short for professor Ray.  Some might notice that it spells out “pray.”  So he often says, “pray for me as I pray for you.”

He usually introduces himself with a question on the first day of class: “Where do you think I am from?”  Anderson mentions some of the countries students have mentioned in the past have included Brazil, Middle East, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Jamaica.  He said it takes students a while to get the correct answer, but once they hear him say “Jamaica,” his accent allows them to figure out where he is from.

Anderson grew up in Saint Andrew, which is a suburb of Kingston.

“Guam is not as hot as Jamaica, it is usually a couple degrees warmer,” Anderson said.  “[Jamaica] is humid, but not as humid as Guam.”

Anderson arrived to Guam on Aug. 16  with his wife.

“So far my experience in Guam is very nice,” Anderson said.

He currently teaches three classes: Introduction to Mass Communication, Broadcast Production, and Advertising in Mass Media.

Next semester, he will be teaching three sections of the Introduction to Mass Communication class and one section of the Documentary Process class.

He plans to introduce new communication classes.

Anderson said he would like to develop an “Intro to Film Studies” class.  In such a class, students would watch films, talk about them and explore different ways of critiquing them.