Master’s in Strategic Communication

Strategy. Analysis. Leadership.

If you are interested in growing professionally and intellectually as a strategic communication professional, the graduate program may be for you.

The mission of the Master’s in Strategic Communication program is to prepare responsible and professional thought leaders—through theories and skills in strategy, research, storytelling, new media, and leadership—for success in today’s competitive digital and global communication environments.

 

Learn, Work and Network

Join leading professors on a thriving campus located in the country’s fifth-largest media market.

Advance Your Professional Goals

Our graduates are hired into positions in advertising, public relations, digital media, corporate communication, non-profit communication, public communication, sports communication, and other positions that benefit from the expertise strategic communication students develop. Read about MS ’12 alumnus Nick Olivier’s experiences.

 

Gain Opportunities and Experience

With TCU’s location in one of the largest media markets in the country, Strategic Communication students gain valuable experience from collaboration with brands, agencies and non-profits in simulated and real-world, client-based communication projects, and through internships, networking and job opportunities.

Financial Awards

We do not want the cost of a graduate education to prohibit you from pursuing your goals. We are able to support the goals of many of our students through merit-based tuition waivers that cover all or part of a student’s tuition and Graduate Teaching Assistantships that provide a monthly stipend to help with other expenses. These assistantships also provide students with the opportunity to work closely with faculty in ways that advance their understanding of the discipline.

Meet some of our Strategic Communication graduate students

Amber Bilops

Jade Currid

Ben Doyka

Breahn Fisher

Christopher Fritz

Leah Griffin

Kylie Gruender

Jordan Guilmart

María Belén Navarro Castillo

Mitchell Nimmer

Miguel Ruiz

Holly Rusak

Aloukika Shrestha

Royal Shrestha

Chelsea Verrette

Hudson Auerbach

A Letter from the Director

Dear Prospective Graduate Student,

On behalf of the faculty and students of the Department of Strategic Communication in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University, welcome to our Department. You have an interest in advancing your professional and intellectual goals and capabilities in areas of strategic communication, and we are honored that you are considering us as a program to advance those goals. At the same time, we know that pursuing a Master’s degree is an important decision. We look forward to learning more about you and to answering any questions you may have as you make these important decisions about your professional future.

In determining the right graduate program, applicants are often interested in the ways in which the program may support their professional and educational successes, including through the program’s emphases, faculty engagement and expertise, mentorship and program culture, professional development opportunities, location, timing, and cost. I hope to provide you with some helpful information about our program as you evaluate these and other considerations in making your decision…

Read in Full

Nationally Recognized Faculty

Committed to Teaching and Mentoring

Josh Bentley

Public relations

Law

Crisis communication

Fundraising strategies

Nonprofit media

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Josh Bentley

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Bentley, J. M. (2018). What counts as an apology? Exploring stakeholder perceptions in a hypothetical organizational crisis. Management Communication Quarterly, 32(2), 202-232.
  • Bentley, J. M., Oostman, K. R., & Shah, S. F. A. (2018). We’re sorry but it’s not our fault: Organizational apologies in ambiguous crisis situations. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 26(1), 138-149.
  • Yang, A., & Bentley, J. (2017). A balance theory approach to stakeholder network and apology strategy. Public Relations Review, 43(2), 267-277.
  • Bentley, J. M., White, J. M., Weiss, D., & Shields, J. D. (2016). Teaching integrated marketing communication campaigns. Teaching Journalism and Mass Communication, 6(1), 18-35.
  • Bentley, J. M. (2015). Shifting identification: A theory of apologies and pseudo-apologies. Public Relations Review, 41(1) 22-29.

Previous Experience

  • Assistant professor at the University of New Mexico.
  • Morning show host and production director radio stations in Alabama, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Honors & Awards

  • Top Faculty Paper, National Communication Association (Public Relations Division)
  • Top Poster, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (Public Relations Division)
  • Top Student Paper, National Communication Association (Public Relations Division
  • Top Student Paper, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (Religion and Media Interest Group)
  • Third Place Faculty Paper, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (Public Relations Division)

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • National Communication Association
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Catherine Coleman

Advertising, Consumer Culture, and Transformative Consumer Research: well-being; consumer vulnerability and empowerment; gender and identity; advertising and media representations; marketing and advertising ethics; advertising history; social media culture; cross-cultural marketing and communication

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Catherine Coleman

Chair of Strategic Communication and Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Journal of Advertising, “A Transformative Advertising Research (TAR) Perspective on Rewarding Inclusivity: Cannes Lions and the Award Effect.”
  • Journal of Advertising, “Transformative Advertising Research: Reimagining the Future of Advertising.”
  • Journal of Macromarketing, “Institutional Logics, Gender, and Advertising within a Culture in Transition: Examining Strategies of Advertising Professionals in Turkey for Managing Institutional Complexity.”
  • Journal of Business Research, “Transformative Intersectionality: Moving Business Toward a Critical Praxis.”
  • Consumption, Markets & Culture, “Power Logics of Consumers’ Gendered (In)justices: Reading Reproductive Health Interventions through the Transformative Gender Justice Framework.”
  • Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, “Gender Justice and the Market: A Transformative Consumer Research Perspective.”
  • Journal of Advertising, “Advertising Professionals’ Perceptions of the Impact of Gender Portrayals on Men and Women: A Question of Ethics?”
  • “Justice in Injustice, Power in Vulnerability: The Dialogical Potential of The Uncondemned.” in Consumer Vulnerability: Conditions, Contexts and Characteristics
  • Journal of Popular Culture, “Starving for Diversity: Ideological Implications of Race Representations in Hunger Games.”
  • Journal of Marketing Management, “Poverty in Consumer Culture: Towards a Transformative Social Representation.”
  • Consumption, Markets & Culture, “Consumption and Gender Identity in Popular Media: Discourses of Domesticity, Sexuality, and Authenticity.”
  • “Construction of Consumer Vulnerability by Gender and Ethics of Empowerment,” Gender, Culture, and Consumer Behavior
  • Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, “Gender Justice and the Market: A Transformative Consumer Research Perspective.”
  • Advertising & Society Review, “It’s Gotta Be the Shoes: Nike, Mike and Mars and the ‘Sneaker Killings’.”

Previous Experience

  • University of Illinois, Department of Advertising
  • Loyola University in Chicago
  • Market Developer for the Health Sciences Group of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
  • Consultant for the City of Chicago Initiative, a Marketing Analyst for eVidient/GE Americom, a Recruitment Advertising Representative at TMP Worldwide, a Research Assistant at Public Opinion Strategies
  • Prevention Specialist for the Rape Crisis Center of Chatham County, Georgia.
  • University of Illinois, Department of Advertising
  • Loyola University in Chicago
  • Market Developer for the Health Sciences Group of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
  • Consultant for the City of Chicago Initiative, a Marketing Analyst for eVidient/GE Americom, a Recruitment Advertising Representative at TMP Worldwide, a Research Assistant at Public Opinion Strategies
  • Prevention Specialist for the Rape Crisis Center of Chatham County, Georgia.

Honors & Awards

  • Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Management (Marketing Group), Royal Holloway, University of London.
  • Dean’s Research Grant Award, The Bob Schieffer College of Communication, TCU
  • Coleman Fellow, Entrepreneurship
  • Sheth Initiative on Vulnerable Consumers Research Grant
  • Best Paper Award (Honorable Mention), Consumption, Markets & Culture
  • Top Paper Award, Southwest Education Council for Journalism & Mass Communication Symposium
  • Top Six Paper Award, Southwest Education Council for Journalism & Mass Communication Symposium
  • American Association of University Women Dissertation Completion Fellowship
  • James Webb Young Fund
  • Verdell Frazier Award for Women
  • Dean’s Research & Creativity Award, TCU.
  • Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Management (Marketing Group), Royal Holloway, University of London.
  • Dean’s Research Grant Award, The Bob Schieffer College of Communication, TCU
  • Coleman Fellow, Entrepreneurship
  • Sheth Initiative on Vulnerable Consumers Research Grant
  • Best Paper Award (Honorable Mention), Consumption, Markets & Culture
  • Top Paper Award, Southwest Education Council for Journalism & Mass Communication Symposium
  • Top Six Paper Award, Southwest Education Council for Journalism & Mass Communication Symposium
  • American Association of University Women Dissertation Completion Fellowship
  • James Webb Young Fund
  • Verdell Frazier Award for Women

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • Association for Consumer Research
  • Consumer Culture Theory Consortium
  • Macromarketing Society
  • American Advertising Association
  • Association for Consumer Research
  • Consumer Culture Theory Consortium
  • Macromarketing Society
  • American Advertising Association

Ashley E. English

Contributions and community engagement strategies of faith-based organizations

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Ashley E. English

Associate Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Megachurch involvement in economic development: Theoretical guidance for Organizational Decision-Making. Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
  • Theoretical understanding of church involvement in economic development: Examining the role of expectations on nonprofit action. Association for Research on Nonprofit and Voluntary Action, Annual Conference, Denver, CO.
  • Extra-Role behavior and economic development: A study of the organizational behavior of megachurches, Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.
  • The local government perspective of megachurches and extra-role behavior. Association for Research on Nonprofit and Voluntary Action, Annual Conference, Hartford, CT.
  • The growth of megachurches: What impacts are they having on local economic development and who benefits? American Society for Public Administration, Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.

Previous Experience

  • Senior manager of public relations and communications for a nonprofit organization that serves the North Texas region.
  • Consultant for nonprofit organizations in the areas of professional development and volunteer management.
  • Co-founder of the TCU Nonprofit Communicator Conference.

Honors & Awards

  • Best Poster Award for the 45th annual ARNOVA Conference in Washington, D.C. Research topic: Megachurches and Practices of Managing Accountability on Websites
  • Doctoral Fellows Seminar Award Recipient from the Association for Research on Nonprofit and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA)
  • Diversity Scholars and Leaders award from ARNOVA
  • 40 Under 40 leader for community involvement and service in the Dallas-Fort Worth area through the Dallas Furniture Bank

Professional Affiliations and Associations

Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action

Amiso George

Risk and crisis communication

Public relations

Corporate communication

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Amiso George

Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Presented papers on public relations and crisis communication at national and international conferences and has published journal articles and book chapters in the same area
  • Co-editor of Culture and Crisis Communication: Transboundary Cases from Nonwestern Perspectives.
  • Co-editor of Case Studies in Crisis Communication: International Perspective on Hits and Misses
  • Co-editor of Race, Gender and Other Minorities: Readings for Professional Communicators
  • Editor for Sage Open Access (online) publisher
  • Reviewer for Routledge, John Wiley and Oxford University publishers

Previous Experience

  • Former director of the TCU Strategic Communication graduate program.
  • Developed and taught the first course in crisis communication.
  • Director of the public relations program at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada in Reno.
  • Taught at University of Texas San Antonio.
  • Worked as a radio and television journalist and freelance broadcaster at Nigerian Television Authority and Voice of America (Africa Service), a consultant for C-SPAN-TV in Washington, D.C., editor-at-large for Celebrate Your Heritage (CYH, and a public relations consultant.
  • APR Accreditation Chair for the Greater Fort Worth PRSA.
  • Former board member and vice chair of Ohio University Alumni Association.
  • Plank Public Relations Fellow in the Corporate Communications Department at USAA.
  • Conducted a workshop on crisis communication.
  • Visiting associate professor of strategic communication at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Dr. George is an external examiner for the public relations program at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia.
  • Dr. George consults in risk and crisis communication.

Honors & Awards

  • PRSA Fellow
  • Accredited in Public Relations (APR)
  • Winner of three Worthy (professional PRSA) awards.
  • Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award at University of Texas San Antonio
  • Stephen H. Coltrin Award for Excellence in Communication Education
  • The Best of Texas award for her student teams at the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) Student Case Study Competition
  • 2018 Bridge Award for Excellence in Strategic Communication Research by the International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference and the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida
  • 2017 PRSA Educator of the Year
  • 2017 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow  by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY)

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • Public Relations Society of America
  • International Communication Association
  • International Association of Business Disciplines

Jong-Hyuok Jung

Advertising effectiveness in the new media environment

Mobile advertising/marketing

Digital advertising/marketing

Consumer behavior

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Jong-Hyuok Jung

Associate Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • International Journal of Advertising
  • Journal of Business Research
  • International Journal of Consumer Marketing
  • International Journal of Mobile Marketing
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  • American Academy of Advertising
  • International Communication Association

Previous Experience

  • Assistant professor of advertising at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
  • Visiting professor at Saatchi and Saatchi, New York City.
  • Broadcast producer at LG (currently GS) Home Shopping, Seoul, Korea.
  • Web Designer at Seocho-District office, Seoul,Korea
  • Strategic Planner at CJ CGV, Seoul, Korea.
  • Military Service (Translator & Supply Seargeant) 304th Signal Battalion, Eighth United States Army, Wonju, Korea.

Honors & Awards

  • Advertising Education Foundation’s Visiting Professor Fellowship
  • Profession Development Award, The University of Texas at Austin
  • Gwyn David Media Endowment Scholarship, The University of Texas at Austin
  • The Army Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service, Department of Army

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • American Academy of Advertising (AAA)
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
  • Global Alliance of Marketing and Management Association (GAMMA)

Eunseon (Penny) Kwon

Marketing and persuasive communications in digital and social media environments

Consumer psychology

Branding

Media psychology

 

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Eunseon (Penny) Kwon

Assistant Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Journal of Advertising
  • International Journal of Mobile Marketing
  • Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication conference
  • American Marketing Association conference
  • American Academy of Advertising

Previous Experience

  • Worked in Television industry in South Korea as content business manager.
  • Sold TV shows abroad.
  • Purchased award shows and TV shows from Japan, U.S. and U.K.

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • Member of Association of Consumer Research
  • Member of American Academy of Advertising
  • Member of Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication
  • Member of American Marketing Association

Liang (Lindsay) Ma

Crisis management

Consumer-brand relationships

Branding

Consumer behaviors

Campaigns

Advanced quantitative methodology

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Liang (Lindsay) Ma

Associate Professor

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Journal of Public Relations Research
  • Public Relations Review
  • Journal of Applied Communication Research
  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
  • International Public Relations Research Conference

Previous Experience

Public relations in China.

Wendy Macias

Advertising

Health Communication

Pharmaceutical advertising

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Wendy Macias

Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Journal of Advertising
  • Journal of Health Communication
  • Health Communication
  • Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising
  • Health Marketing Quarterly
  • Pharmaceutical Medicine
  • International Journal of Advertising
  • Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Previous Experience

  • Sales promotion, market research and marketing.
  • Associate professor of advertising at the University of Georgia.

Julie O’Neil

Public relations

Internal communication

Corporate social responsibility

Measuring and evaluating communication programs and public relationships

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Julie O’Neil

Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Administration

Selected Academic Publications and Presentations

  • Men, R.L., O’Neil, J. & Ewing, M. (2020, August). “From the employee perspective: Organizations’ administration of internal social media and the relationship between social media engagement and relationship cultivation,” International Journal of Business Communication, 1-28. doi: 10.1177/2329488420949968
  • Men, R.L., O’Neil, J. & Ewing, M. (2020, January). “Examining the effects of internal social media usage on employee engagement,” Public Relations Review, 46(2), 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101880.
  • Ewing, M., Men, R. L. & O’Neil, J. (2019, February). Using social media to engage employees: Insights from internal communication managers. The International Journal of Strategic Communication, 13(2), 110-132. doi: 10.1080/1553118X.2019.1575830
  • O’Neil, J., Eisenmann, M., & Holman, M. (2019). A mixed methods examination of how people assess the credibility of sources used by public relations practitioners. The Journal of Promotion Management, 25, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2018.1536619 
  • O’Neil, J., Ewing, M., Smith, S. & Williams, S. (2018). A delphi study to identify standards for internal communication. Public Relations Journal, 11(3), 1-16.
  • O’Neil, J. & Eisenmann, M. (2017). “An Examination of How Source Classification Impacts Credibility and Consumer Behavior,” Public Relations Review, 43(2), 278-292.
  • O’Neil, J. & Lambiase, J. (2016). “Considering Certification?: An Analysis of Universities’ Communication Certificates and Feedback from Public Relations,” Journal of Public Relations Education, 2(1), 34-46.
  • Eisenmann, M., O’Neil, J., & Geddes, D. (2015). An examination of the validity, reliability, and best practices related to the standards for traditional media. Research Journal of the Institute for Public Relations, 2(1), 1-28. IPR Signature Study.

Previous Experience

  • Public relations and marketing in multiple settings: agency, corporate, and nonprofit.
  • Teaching and researching public relations for more than 20 years.
  • Former Division Chair and Director of Graduate Studies in the Strategic Communication Department at TCU.

Honors & Awards

  • Bob Schieffer College of Communication Faculty Research Nominee, 2020
  • Public Relations Society of America Employee Communication Award, International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC), 2019 & 2018
  • Jackson Sharpe Award for best co-authored research paper by a public relations academic and professional, IPRRC, 2016, 2014, & 2008
  • Institute for Public Relations Top Three Paper Award, IPRRC, 2017 & 2007
  • Bob Schieffer College of Communication Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Teacher-Scholar, 2016 & 2014

Professional Affiliations and Associations

  • Arthur Page Society member
  • Senior Associate Editor, Public Relations Journal
  • Measurement Commission of the Institute for Public Relations
  • Commission on Public Relations Education Commission Board Member
  • International Public Relations Research Advisory Committee
  • Journal of Public Relations Education Editorial Board
  • Public Relations Society of America member
  • Association of Education in Journalism and Mass Communication member