Dr. Weiting Tao is an associate professor in strategic communication. Her primary research area is corporate public relations, which includes corporate social responsibility, corporate ability, crisis communication and management, cross cultural strategic communication, corporate reputation and relationship management, and social media strategies. Dr. Tao’s research agenda centers on the grant question: how can public relations help corporations survive and thrive in the current turbulent marketplace and in the fast-evolving media environment? Emphasizing the value of interdisciplinary research, her work blends public relations research, consumer psychology, interpersonal communication, organizational communication and management, digital media studies, and international communication. Dr. Tao has published in scholarly journals such as Communication Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management, International Journal of Strategic Communication, and European Sport Management Quarterly. She also has won numerous top paper and research awards at international and national communication conferences such as the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC). Dr. Tao has been awarded the Arthur W. Page Legacy Scholar grants for two consecutive years (2016-2017 and 2017-2018).
Dr. Tao received her Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Florida. She also holds a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Florida.