Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D. president and CEO of the Institute for PR, visited the O’Dwyer offices Feb. 1, chatting with assistant publisher and editor Jane Landers.

Publisher Jack O’Dwyer was in the Washington, D.C., area to celebrate his wedding anniversary with Lucille O’Dwyer and their two children, Christine and John.

Tina McCorkindale & Jane Landers(L to R) Tina McCorkindale & O'Dwyer's associate publisher Jane Landers.

McCorkindale, before taking her post last year, was an associate professor of PR at Appalachian State University. She has taught at several universities, including Cal Poly Pomona, University of Vermont, and Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Thailand. She has taught in West Virginia University’s graduate IMC program since 2009 and has received numerous awards and honors for her teaching and research.

She was shown the O’Dwyer PR Library which has been compiled since 1968 and has more than 800 books as well as past issues and directories of many PR publishers. Open to the PR public, it is an adjunct to the 16 years of digital files on PR topics assembled since 2001.

Complete archives of all O’Dwyer newsletters published since 1968 are in the library as well as all O’Dwyer magazines published since 1987 and all O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms published since 1970.

Directory editor Melissa Werbell told McCorkindale about the many steps needed to produce the Directory of PR Firms. McCorkindale, who has written about the need for parties to engage in face-to-face communications, also referred to as “dialogic looping,” said she is always available to O’Dwyer staffers and other reporters to discuss PR topics.

Headed IPR Social Science Research Center

McCorkindale is the former director of IPR’s Social Science of Social Media Research Center. She is the past chair of the PRSA Educators Academy and former co-chair of the PRSA National Research Committee. She is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, the PRSA MBA Program committee, the Commission for PR Education, and the International PR Research Conference Advisory Committee. She is a director on the Universal Accreditation Board.

She has been the National Faculty Adviser for the Public Relations Student Society of America of PRSA but is leaving that post as of June 1.

Her research focuses on social media with specializations in mobile technologies, engagement, and reputation. She has more than 30 academic publications in books and journals such as Public Relations Review, Journal of New Communications Research, Public Relations Journal, Journal of Social Media in Society, Research Journal of the Institute for Public Relations, Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, Teaching Public Relations Monograph, Global Media Journal — Canadian Edition, Journal of Promotion Management, International Journal of Nonprofit Sector and Voluntary Marketing, and Feedback. She has presented more than 60 papers and panels at conferences, and has won awards and grants for her research, including top paper awards and three Arthur W. Page Center grants. She is on the editorial review board of the Public Relations Journal, Research Journal for Institute for Public Relations, and Communication Research Reports.

Worked at Cymfony, Visible Technologies, Cision

McCorkindale has nearly 10 years of experience working in corporate communication and as a senior research analyst with Cymfony, Visible Technologies and Cision. She has experience working with enterprise-level clients in various verticals including technology, insurance, pharmaceutical, transportation, and financial services. She also served as the Director of Communication for Team Réciprocité in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 competition in Versailles, France, that challenged teams from universities around the world to build an independent, solar-powered home.

McCorkindale received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in marketing from the University of Southern Mississippi, a master’s degree in corporate and public communication from the University of South Alabama, and her Ph.D. in communication from the University of Miami. She lives in Seattle, Washington.