Lan Ni

Biography

Lan Ni, Ph.D., is Professor in the Valenti School of Communication at the University of Houston. Focusing on identification of publics, relationship management, and conflict management, her research examines how public relations in intercultural settings can both benefit organizations and empower publics, especially immigrants and minority groups.

She has been awarded multiple internal and external research grants including those from the National Science Foundation, Urban Communication Foundation, Arthur Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, and Public Relations Society of America Research Foundation. Her publications have appeared in major journals in communication and public relations such as Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Public Affairs, International Journal of Strategic Communication, and Public Relations Journal.

She is the lead author of an intercultural public relations theory book and lead editor of an intercultural public relations practice book, both published by Routledge.

Guided by her research, she has directed public relations campaigns focusing on intercultural interactions (and conflicts) that won awards such as the Peer to Peer: Challenging Extremism social media competition sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security (Third place) and Public Relations Society of America Excalibur Awards (Gold).

Education

Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, MD
M.A., Nanjing University, China
B.A., Nanjing University, China

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Intercultural public relations, strategic communication, relationship management, conflict management, identification of publics, community engagement, qualitative research methods

Personal Interests

Reading, traveling, positive parenting, volunteering, and learning new languages.

Books