Ashli Stokes

Education

• B.A., Virginia Tech University, 1996
• M.A., Wake Forest University, 1998
• Ph.D., University of Georgia, 2004

Areas of Interest

• Public Relations, Health Communication campaigns
• Public Communication and Rhetoric

Bio

Dr. Ashli Quesinberry Stokes is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and the Director of the Center for the Study of the New South at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Stokes teaches a variety of public relations courses at the undergraduate and graduate level and directs the Department’s Honors Program. Her courses include principles of public relations, public relations strategy & campaigns, issues management, and health communication campaigns. Her award-winning research specializes in using rhetorical approaches to analyze public relations and public communication controversies, often concerning activism and corporate advocacy. Along with co-authoring Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South (with Wendy Atkins-Sayre) and Global Public Relations: Spanning Borders, Spanning Cultures(with Alan R. Freitag) Stokes has published in the Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Communication Management, Public Relations Review, the Southern Communication Journal, Studies in Communication Sciences, and theEncyclopedia of Public Relations, among others. Upon the completion of her master’s degree at Wake Forest University, she worked in public relations. Stokes then returned to academia and completed her doctorate at the University of Georgia in 2004.

Research Projects

• Analyzing how food rhetoric helps redefine the South’s identity
• Assessing corporate social resonsibility initiatives
• Exploring how activist groups employ public relations techniques
• Analyzing food and nutrition public relations campaigns
• Analyzing food movements as public relations initiatives
• Analyzing a corporate public relations campaign from a major global company
• Analyzing the communication strategies of the Slow Food Movement
• Comparing the rhetorical strategies of Hilary Clinton and Shirley Chisholm in their Presidential nomination campaigns
• Analyzing the crisis response strategies of a major oil company
• Exploring the relationship between public relations and health
• Exploring health promotion campaigns pertaining to children and obesity

Publications

• Journal of Public Relations Research
• Public Relations Review
• Journal of Communication Management
• Southern Communication Journal
• Studies in Communication Sciences

Teaching Courses

• Issues Management
• Health Communication Campaigns
• Public Relations Strategy
• International Public Relations