October 10, 2019

By Soyoon Kim & Queenie J. Li, University of Miami

College means a time of freedom and time to explore the future with excitement. However, the transition into college also means a time of intense challenge to students’ mental health. The significant challenge brings many college students overwhelming anxiety and unbearable depression.

The ongoing crisis in colleges across the nation shows that better and accessible professional services are critical to helping students with mental health issues move… More

October 9, 2019

By Lucinda Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Barbara Miller Gaither, Elon University

Should companies take a stand on social issues? What about when these issues are contentious and corporate stakeholders are divided on the topic?

The last few years have included numerous examples of corporate and CEO advocacy on divisive social-political issues including support for both conservative and liberal positions and representing a range of issues.

Examples include Dick’s Sporting Goods public… More

September 23, 2019

By Daniela Dimitrova, Iowa State University and Emel Ozdora Aksak, Bilkent University

We’ve all seen the pictures—the tiny body of a boy drowned on the way to Europe or the veiled, desperate mother separated from her child inside a refugee camp. This is how most people learn about the Syrian refugee crisis, among the biggest humanitarian calamities of our time with millions of displaced Syrian nationals migrating to the Middle East and other countries around the globe.

… More

September 13, 2019

By Linda Hon and Leping You, University of Florida

In 2013, 278 companies filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court expressing their opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — the federal law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Beyond the U.S. context, Google’s gay marriage campaign ‘‘Legalize Love’’ is particularly remarkable by targeting not only legislation in its home country, but also in host nations such as Singapore and… More

September 10, 2019

By Brooke W. McKeever, Robert McKeever, Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina

Advocacy and activism play significant roles in the success of many types of organizations, and the study of these concepts has gained increased prominence within communications and public relations research.

While advocacy and activism have been defined and examined by focusing on strategic communication strategies from advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations, more recent studies have explored the two concepts from many sides (e.g., by looking… More

September 4, 2019

By Derek Moscato, Western Washington University

Given the sheer number of climate-related weather events recently, it is surprising that environmental topics, including the climate crisis, do not receive more attention in national public forums.

Take, for example, the Democratic Party presidential debates earlier this summer. As noted by Inside Climate News, over the course of two evenings, the climate discussion received less than 15 of 240 minutes of debate.

This speaks to a larger problem… More