Susan Waters

Background

About Susan Waters

As a thought leader, I was the Coordinator of the Brand and Media Strategy Graduate Program, and I was the Head of the Advertising/Public Relations Program at East Tennessee State University (ETSU). We have seen much growth in our graduate program in the past few years under my leadership with a great support team, and we are the fastest growing graduate program on campus. Our graduate enrollment has gone from 6 students a few years ago to a current enrollment of ~50 students. My record exemplifies the following accomplishments: one prestigious university teaching award (i.e, College of Liberal Arts Teaching Excellence Award, Auburn University), two departmental teaching awards (i.e, The University of Kansas and Pittsburg State University), five National Communication Association (NCA) research paper awards, one Central States Communication Association (CSCA) research paper award, over 60 scholarly presentations, and first author/single author of publications in journals such as Journal of Computer Mediated Communication (one article is cited over 200 times), the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, and Case Studies in Strategic Communication. In addition, I have been the Communication Assessment Division Chair and the Chair of the Public Relations Division at NCA. I created and led several successful London Study Abroad programs while at Auburn University as Study Abroad Director for two years. Also, I was Chair of the Assessment & Accreditation Committee for two years at Auburn and successfully conducted assessment for the department for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation. Finally, I was Chair of the Diversity and Outreach Initiatives Committee for two years while at Auburn. My technology skill set includes such platforms as Adobe Creative Cloud, Qualtrics, SPSS, and Hootsuite. My service component has been mostly in administration and experiential education having worked with many clients (i.e, community partners) over the years, and my published research assesses experiential learning techniques, social media, public relations, and politics. Learning about strategically communicating via advertising and public relations in the classroom or online paired with experiential learning creates a phenomenal atmosphere for our students.