The problem of controller synthesis with the objective of stabilizing a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) with arbitrary switching between two modes, is considered. First, based on the new concept of modal state feedback linearization, two nonlinear state feedback laws and a nonlinear state transformation are synthesized. The advantage of this step is to transform the switched nonlinear model of the CSTR to an equivalent switched linear system without any approximation. In the second step, a stabilizing controller is designed for the switched linear system using the common Lyapunov function theory. Although it is proven that the process is globally stabilized with the designed controller, the performance of the controller is also shown in simulation. This paper illustrates the possibility of simplifying the procedure of designing controller for switched nonlinear processes, using the modal state feedback method. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.