Name: Ying Xiong                                          
URI Position: Assistant Professor of Public Relations
Email: ying-xiong@live.com
Pronouns: she/her

The College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to welcome several new professors on the tenure-track beginning in the fall 2019 semester. Assistant Professor Ying Xiong, Ph.D., joins the Harrington School of Communication and Media’s Public Relations Program. Dr. Xiong brings a range of experience to her new role, having previously held positions at the University of Tennessee and University of Oklahoma. As a Masters student at the University of Oklahoma, she researched health communication and worked in the Media Effect Lab. At the University of Tennessee, as a Ph.D. student, she not only taught courses on research methods and public relations campaigns, but also worked in the University’s Adam Brown Social Media Command Center where she trained students, faculty, and staff. Dr. Xiong’s dissertation focused on how individuals facilitate social movement engagement in the networked environment. “I explored how people form networks both online and offline for social movements with mixed research methods,” she describes.

Reflective of her experience and research interests, Xiong will teach such courses as Research Methods in Communication Studies and Introduction to Event Management in Public Relations during the upcoming academic year. She also looks forward to pursuing several research projects. “My public relations research,” she says, “has focused on social movement engagement, social media analytics, networked community, and crisis communication. I have explored how public relations contributes to society and facilitates social movement engagement. “

As she begins her new appointment at URI, Xiong looks forward to being a part of the community of students and faculty here. “The Harrington School has many excellent faculty who are experts in their fields,” she notes. “I am impressed by the school’s vision in digital media and Communication Studies.” She encourages current URI students, regardless of discipline, to stay conscious of new technologies and forms of media, which continue to shape how we interact with our world. But, she emphasizes: “Staying close to new technology or simply knowing how to post information on social media is not enough. It is better to build your unique skills…such as social media analytics,digital storytelling, digital production, visual persuasion, to separate you and other competitors in the job market.”

~Written by Aria Mia Loberti