Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA

Biography

In January 2025, Texas Tech University named Bey-Ling Sha, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, as the third dean in the history of its College of Media & Communication. She is a higher education leader whose work has influenced scholarship, education and practice in public relations and communication.

Sha's primary research program examines the intersection of identity and public relations; her theory of intercultural public relations is the subject of two scholarly books. Her research extends to international public relations, activism, diversity, and gender, earning her the Institute for Public Relations' 2018 Pathfinder Award for lifetime achievement in research. She served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Relations Research from 2016-2021, and her work appears in several leading academic journals. In 2023, Sha received the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education.

Her teaching excellence has been widely recognized, including being named 2012 Outstanding Educator of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America; she has received Outstanding Faculty Awards from both San Diego State University and the University of Maryland, College Park. With Dr. Glen Broom, she co-authored the 11th edition of Cutlip and Center's Effective Public Relations, a leading textbook in the field.

Before entering academia, Sha worked as a public affairs officer for the U.S. Census Bureau, where she helped oversee the 2000 census promotional campaign, which won PRSA's Silver Anvil Award of Excellence. Her consulting portfolio includes work with Microsoft Corp., Perrier-Vittel, and other major organizations. The San Diego Chapter of PRSA recognized her as their 2007 Professional of the Year.

Sha is the president-elect of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Her previous service to the field includes chairing the Universal Accreditation Board and the PRSA National Committee on Work, Life, and Gender. A veteran of more than 30 nonprofit boards and committees, she has received numerous honors including the 2019 D. Parke Gibson Pioneer Award from PRSA, induction into the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism Hall of Fame in 2022, and the 2023 Leadership in Public Service Award from the Fullerton Women's Leadership Forum. Sha holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Maryland, College Park, is Accredited in Public Relations, and is a member of both the Arthur W. Page Society and the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America.