Professor Releases Magazine-Style Public Relations Textbook

A new book co-authored by University of Southern Mississippi professor Dr. Jae-Hwa Shin helps students develop a fundamental understanding of current issues affecting public relations practice today.

“THINK Public Relations,” is a magazine-designed textbook that introduces students to exciting and innovative public relations cases and examples in the context of relevant theory and core concepts.

Shin, an associate professor of public relations, is widely recognized as a prolific researcher in the field of public relations and has actively participated in the emerging development of public relations theory. Her latest book is a clean, full-color magazine layout with exciting images, charts and other useful infographics. The book is designed to be affordable, retailing for less than half the cost of most introductory public relations textbooks. Already, the book is being used by Southern Miss President Martha Saunders and Shin in their fall 2010 semester public relations courses.

“Students often have difficulties absorbing a lot of factual and conceptual materials,” Shin said. “Through short, targeted sections, we present an array of perspectives in manageable segments adapted for classroom discussion and lecture.”

“THINK Public Relations,” is supported by The Think Spot (www.thethinkspot.com), an open access website that provides numerous learning and study tools for students including, chapters in PDF format, printable flashcards that are also accessible on cell phones, chapter-by-chapter quizzes, audio summaries and downloadable audio chapters.

Over the last decade, Shin has incorporated her professional experiences into her research and teaching and worked on a wide range of topics in public relations, including strategic conflict management, contingency theory of public relations, agenda building in the media process, and health communication. Her research has been published in “Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly,” “Public Relations Review,” and other renowned journals, and she has presented her work at national and international conferences.