Author Biographies

Dila Beisembayeva (M.A., Unitec, New Zealand) is a lecturer at the Department of Computing in the Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand. Originally from Kazakhstan, Beisembayeva's interests include social media, national identity, and censorship in authoritarian states such as China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. Her international communication master's thesis explored the impact of online political activism on political process in Kazakhstan. She has presented papers at conferences in Ireland, Japan, and Canada. Email: dbeisembayeva@unitec.ac.nz

Ronald Carr (M.F.A., University of California, Los Angeles) is an associate professor and director of the Communication Studies Department, with specialization in broadcasting and documentary filmmaking, at Temple University, Japan. He is also executive producer of Global Lives, Asia, and of Urban Villages, a recent Temple University-funded project that brings awareness and solutions to serious issues plaguing Asian urban communities. Professor Carr has produced stories on disaster relief in Manila, Philippines, and the struggles facing informal settlers, and on nuclear energy crisis following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. His projects have taken him to far-flung places such as Beirut, Sapporo, Damascus, and Varnasse. He resides in Tokyo with his family. Email: carr@tuj.temple.edu

Christabel Reena David (BComms (Hons), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) is a senior consultant at DeVries Global. To date, she has worked on several accounts, including Head & Shoulders, SK-II Local and Global, Prestige Fine Fragrances, Samsonite, and CÉ LA VI Singapore. She has experience in both regional and local work such as media relations, traditional and social media communication strategy, event execution, and regional toolkit creation. David graduated from Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in 2014, specializing in public relations. She worked on creating awareness among youths for social enterprises for her final year project and on a paper on social media crisis communication in Singapore. Email: christabel.rdavid@gmail.com

Uttaran Dutta (Ph.D., Purdue University) is an assistant professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, Arizona State University, USA. His research interest includes intercultural communication, communication for social change, indigenous and folk culture, and visual communication. He has published in several peer-reviewed journals including Qualitative Health Research, Journal of International Communication, and Communication Design Quarterly. Email: uttaran.dutta@Asu.edu

Amiso M. George (Ph.D., Ohio University; Accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America [PRSA]; Fellow, PRSA) is an associate professor of strategic communication at Texas Christian University (TCU), Fort Worth, Texas. She is former chair of the Strategic Communication Department and former director of the graduate program at TCU, where she coaches the award-winning PRSSA Bateman team. George also directed the Public Relations program at the Reynolds School of Journalism, University of Nevada, Reno, where she developed and taught the first course in crisis communication. She was a visiting professor of strategic communication at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, in 2012. Before entering academia, George worked as a journalist and freelance broadcaster in radio and television at Nigerian Television Authority, Voice of America international radio network (Africa Service), and WOUB Radio in Athens, Ohio. She also served as a consultant for C-SPAN-Television, Washington, D.C. In addition to journal articles and book chapters on crisis communication, she is the co-editor of Crisis Communication: An International Perspective on Hits and Misses (Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2012) and Race, Gender and Other Minorities: Readings for Professional Communicators (Cognella, 2012). She consults in risks and crisis communication. Email: a.george2@tcu.edu; Twitter: @tampriye

Yi-Hui Christine Huang (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Previously, she taught at School of Communication in National Chengchi University in Taiwan and as a visiting professor in the Negotiation Program at Harvard University Law School. Her research interests include cross-cultural communication and relationship management, crisis communication, conflict and negotiation, public relations management, and communication studies in China. She has received distinguished public relations research awards from the National Communication Association, USA; National Science Council, R.O.C.; and Research Chair Professorship Award by the National Chengchi University in Taiwan. A recipient of numerous top paper awards and teaching awards at various international conferences, including the International Communication Association, Dr. Huang has also served on the editorial boards of major international SSCI journals in communication and public relations, including Journal of Public Relations Research, Asian Journal of Communication, and International Journal of Strategic Communication. She is associate editor-in-chief and editorial board member of major Chinese TSSCI scholarly publications, including Chinese Journal of Communication Research. She has also served as the vice president and the secretary-general of the Chinese Communication Society as well as a board member and consultant for the Foundation of Public Relations of the Republic of China. Email: yhuang100@gmail.com

Jangyul Robert Kim (Ph.D., University of Florida; Accredited in Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America [PRSA]; Fellow, PRSA) is the director general of Customer Risk Prevention Bureau at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety of South Korea. A former associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Communication at Colorado State University, USA, he is the first Korean awarded the professional designation of Accredited in Public Relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America. He is also the first Korean to be inducted into the prestigious Public Relations College of Fellows. He was a visiting professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2013-2014. Prior to joining academia, he was the founder of KorCom Porter Novelli, a full-service public relations firm based in Seoul, and has consulted numerous domestic and multinational firms, governments, and non-profit organizations. Kim's research interest includes issues and crisis communications, public diplomacy, corporate social responsibility, international public relations, and strategic and marketing communications. His manuscripts are published in top peer review journals including Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Asian Journal of Communications, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, and Journal of Public Relations (Korean). Email: jangyul.kim@colostate.edu

Elena Kolesova (Ph.D., University of Auckland) is a senior lecturer and programme leader for postgraduate programmes at the Department of Communication Studies in the Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand. She developed and teaches courses in Asian studies and in international and intercultural communication. Her research interests include the re-emergence of nationalism in Japan and Russia, media and multiculturalism in New Zealand, and East Asian popular culture in a local context. In 2011, she organized a "Cool New Asia" international symposium followed by the ePublication Cool New Asia: Asian Popular Culture in Local Context. In 2014, she co-organized an Ethnic Media Forum. Elena is also involved in research on international/transnational education and international students, and has published in the area of the history of Japanese education, international students and also a comparative analysis of history textbooks in Japan and Russia. She is the reviews editor for New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. Email: ekolesova@unitec.ac.nz

Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo (Ph.D., Queensland University of Technology, Australia) is an associate professor of marketing/public relations at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. In the early 2000s, he established Monash University, Gippsland's Public Relations Program before moving to Swinburne in 2007, as head of Academic Group of Communication, Marketing and Tourism, and Associate Dean, International from 2011 to 2013. He has been a consultant for Ghana Social Marketing Foundation, visiting professor of marketing communication at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, visiting scholar at Texas Christian University, and consultant for AusTraining in cross-cultural communication/issues in Africa. He is experienced in leading course and curriculum development in public relations, advertising, and communication studies. Dr. Kwansah-Aidoo has authored two books on media communication and crisis communication. He has also published several refereed journal articles and book chapters on public relations, communication and media, with emerging streams on Ghanaian film and also the African diaspora in...