I am an assistant professor of strategic communications in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. My research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of digital media, international communication and strategic communications. Recently, I have focused on identifying emerging properties of communications in the network information age and their implications for public diplomacy, national image and nation branding.
My research has received top paper awards from Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and International Communication Association and has been published in international journals including Asian Journal of Communication, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Journal of Communication, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism, and Public Relations Review.
Before joining the University of Kansas in fall 2011, I was the inaugural Newhouse Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University conducting research on how national image is formed in the age of information technology and online social networking. I received my Ph.D. in mass communications from Syracuse University in 2010 where my dissertation was awarded the all-university Doctoral Prize.
My research and teaching are influenced by my professional experience in journalism and strategic communications in Korea and the United States. Prior to my graduate studies in the United States, I was a foreign affairs correspondent for South Korean and other international media outlets. During that time, I traveled extensively around the world to cover major international events including the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear issues and gatherings of world leaders such as the United Nations and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit talks. I have also consulted to U.S. and Korea-based nongovernmental organizations regarding their social media strategies and relations with international press.
I see myself as a global citizen. I enjoy travel, swimming, yoga and meditation.