Speaker Named for March 6 Webinar

Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR

Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR, is professor and interim director in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University. She is an award-winning public relations researcher, teacher, and practitioner, who is active in professional and community organizations.

Dr. Sha’s primary research program combines theories of mathematical physics with public relations scholarship. Her other research areas include cultural identity, international public relations, activism, and gender. Dr. Sha’s scholarly work has been published in Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Promotion Management, as well as various book chapters. She has won research honors from every major communication and public relations association: Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, International Communication Association, National Communication Association, Public Relations Society of America, and the Institute for Public Relations.

For her teaching, Dr. Sha was honored by the Public Relations Society of America as its 2012 Outstanding Educator of the Year. She also won the 2007 Outstanding Faculty Award from San Diego State University and the 2004 Outstanding Faculty Award from the University of Maryland, College Park. With more than a decade of full-time, college-level teaching experience, Dr. Sha has taught all the courses offered in most undergraduate public relations majors. These include principles of public relations, public relations writing, public relations research, public relations campaigns, and public relations internship, as well as crisis management in public relations.

Prior to becoming a full-time educator, Dr. Sha worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Census Bureau, where she helped oversee the execution and evaluation of the promotional campaign for the 2000 census. The census campaign won a 2001 Silver Anvil Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America.

Dr. Sha has also done paid and pro bono consulting work in public relations, with such clients as Microsoft Corp., Perrier-Vittel, and Premier Aircraft Sales Inc., among other organizations. The San Diego chapter of the Public Relations Society of America named Dr. Sha its 2007 Professional of the Year. Her pro bono professional work also won the 2010 Outstanding Advocacy Award from the National PTA® and the 2005 President’s Award from the International Listening Association.

Nationally, Dr. Sha is the 2014 chair of the Universal Accreditation Board, which oversees the world’s largest certification program in public relations. Previously, she chaired the UAB research work group from 2010 to 2012, and she served the Public Relations Society of America as the 2010 and 2011 chair of its Committee on Work, Life & Gender.

In San Diego, Dr. Sha chairs the board of directors of the Union of Pan Asian Communities, and she is active in several Parent Teacher Associations. She and her husband have two sons, ages 13 and 11.

She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Maryland at College Park. She is Accredited in Public Relations by the Universal Accreditation Board.