Ioana Coman

Biography

Dr. Ioana A. Coman (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, 2014) is originally from Romania and is currently an Assistant Professor at Texas Tech University. Her research focuses on how different actors (individuals, organizations, media, officials, stakeholders/publics, etc.) engage and interact in risk and crisis communication situations via different platforms, within different contexts, such as health (health outbreaks, mis/disinformation, vaccines, prevention), terrorist attacks, disasters, climate change, and at different levels (local, national, international). She is also interested in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), focusing on the idea of a reciprocal relationship between teaching and learning and looking for ways to improve students' learning and experiences. Her research has already received different national and international awards, such as, Best Faculty Paper award at the World Journalism Education Congress (2019) and grants (as a PI and Co-PI) such as the Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants (2020-20201; 2019-2020). She publishes in peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Primary Care and Community Health, Mass Communication and Society, The International Journal on Press and Politics, Newspaper Research Journal, ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies. She has taught courses on different aspects of public relations, journalism, entrepreneurship and innovation. She enjoys exploring old and new places and making memories with her family and puppy, Piper.

Research

I am an interdisciplinary scholar, and my research explores how different actors (individuals, media, organizations, officials, stakeholders/publics) engage and interact in risk and/or crisis communication via different platforms, within different contexts (health outbreaks; disasters; terrorist attacks; health/disaster prevention, etc.) and at different levels (local, national, international). I value interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and mixed-methods research, so I continuously collaborate with a diverse range of scholars.

Selected Publications

Guidry, J.P.D., Austin, L.L., O'Donnell, N.H., Coman, I., Lovari, A., & Messner, M. Tweeting the #flushot: Beliefs, barriers, and perceived threats during different periods of the 2018-2019 flu season. Accepted at Journal of Primary Care and Community Health.

Connolly-Ahern, C., Ahern, L., Coman, I., Molina Davila, M., Davis, S. (2019). The Weight of the Veil: Quantifying the Impact of the Hijab on News Judgements. Mass Communication & Society, 22(6), 851-871. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2019.1685107

Cmeciu, C. & Coman, I. (2019). Twitter as a Means of Emotional Coping and Collective (Re)Framing of Crises. Case Study: The “Colectiv” Crisis in Romania. Social Communication, 2, 6-15.

Coman, I. & Coman, M. (Dec. 2017). Religion, Popular Culture and Social Media: The Construction of a Religious Leader Image on Facebook. ESSACHESS – Journal for Communication Studies, 10, 2 (20), 129-143.

Teaching Focus

Risk/Crisis Communication, Public Relations, Journalism, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Recent Courses: PR 5343: Public Relations Problems and Cases PR 4412: Public Relations Campaigns PR 4351: International and Multicultural Public Relations PR 3312: Public Relations WritingTeaching

Leadership & Awards

2020 – 2021: Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant for Organizational Listening. Project: Organizational Social Listening & Corporate Climate Advocacy: What happens when organizations don't listen? PI: Ioana Coman; Collaborator: Vasquez R. (Ph.D. Student)

2019 – 2020: Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant for Narratives in Public Communications. Project: Tell me about the #fluvaccine: Using narratives to encourage vaccination. PI: Jeanine Guidry; Co-PIs: Lucinda Austin, Nicole O'Donnell, Jay Adams, Ioana Coman.

2019 - 2020: Fellow - Institute for Inclusive Excellence, Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the Center for Global Communication & the Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center.

2019: Best Faculty Award, World Journalism Education Congress/Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Study: Beyond the National Limits and Media System Models – Terrorism and Mediatized Online Public Spheres. Solo author.

2019: Fourth Place Award, AEJMC (CommSHER division). Study: Tweeting the #Flushot: Beliefs, Barriers, and perceived Threat at Different Points of the Flu Season. - Guidry, I., Coman, I; Austin, L., O'Donnell, N.; Lovari, A.; Messner, M. (August 2019).

2017: Kopenhaver Center Fellow. Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at the Florida International University and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's Commission on the Status of Women.