Shin Named Kopenhaver Center Fellow

Mon, 07/12/2021 - 04:52pm | By: David Tisdale

Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin, a professor of public relations in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Communication, has earned the prestigious distinction of being named a 2021 Fellow of the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication.

Headquartered at Florida International University, the goal of the Kopenhaver Center is to empower both women professionals and academics in all fields of communication in order to develop visionaries and leaders who can make a difference in their communities and their profession. 

In her role as a Kopenhaver Center Fellow, Dr. Shin will participate in an Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) pre-convention virtual workshop “Women Faculty Moving Forward: Leading the Future of Academia” Aug. 3, which is being co-sponsored by the Kopenhaver Center and the AEJMC.

"Diversity, inclusion, and equity has been embedded in my career and life. I am the very first female who was given responsibility to run the communication unit of the Federation of Korean Industries, which was founded in 1961 by multinational corporate members such as Samsung, LG, SK, and other industry leaders, and I am the first foreign-born female faculty member who was tenured and promoted to full professor in the School of Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi,” Dr. Shin said.

“However, I know ‘I will not be the last,’ as stated by Vice President Kamala Harris in her inauguration speech,” Dr. Shin continued. “In my mind, there are no limitations based on gender, race, nationality, class, social behaviors or norms, or whatever differences exist. Such categorizations and names should not be used to limit, but to welcome and embrace diversity, inclusion and equity, even in the face of adversity.” 

Dr. Shin joined the USM faculty in 2003. She holds a doctorate from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and her research focuses on public relations from a strategic conflict management perspective across cultural settings in social media environments. Her publications include numerous journal articles and book chapters; she has co-authored books that include two widely used textbooks, Public Relations Today: Managing Conflict and Competition and Think: Public Relations, and her latest publication is Public Relations Theory: Capabilities and Competencies, co-authored with Robert Heath. She is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Public Relations Research.

The USM School of Communication is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about the school at https://www.usm.edu/communication/index.php.