Headshot of Rochelle Ford

Rochelle Ford

Dean of the School of Communications and Professor of Strategic Communications

Department: Communications

Office and address: Schar Hall- Communications Bld, office 108A 2850 Campus Box Elon, NC 27244

Phone number: (336) 278-5715

Professional Expertise

diversity and inclusion, strategic communications

Brief Biography

Rochelle L. Ford, Ph.D., APR, is the dean of the School of Communications at Elon University. In 2018 she was inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Fame. She served for four years as a professor and the chair of the Public Relations Department at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse, helping the program to win the PRWeek Education Program of the Year. Through a provost faculty fellowship, she co-chaired the University's successful Middle States reaccreditation and initiated a university -wide required common first year experience. Previously, she taught as a professor for 16 years at Howard University in the School of Communications, where she served as the associate dean for research and academic affairs for six years and as the former director of the Preparing Future Journalism Faculty Program. Her last assignment was leading Howard University's initiative to establish a campus-wide Center for Academic Excellence. A former advertising and public relations sequence coordinator at Howard University, Rochelle conducts research about diversity in advertising and public relations and has written a monthly column: Diversity Dimensions for Public Relations Tactics, an award winning trade newspaper. She has been a member of the boards of the PRSA Foundation, PRSA nationally, and the American Advertising Federation's Mosaic Center. She co-chairs the Arthur W. Page Society's diversity and inclusion committee.

Specialties: diversity, assessment, first year experience, advertising, public relations, multicultural communication and public relations pedagogy.

Links

    Education

    • Certificate in Management and Leadership in Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, 2012
    • Doctorate of Philosophy in Journalism, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1999
    • Masters of Arts in Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park, 1995
    • Masters Certificate in Gerontology, University of Maryland, College Park, 1995
    • Bachelors of Arts in Journalism, Howard University, Washington, DC, 1993
    • International Marketing coursework, American College of London, England, 1992

    Employment History

    Academic Administrative Employment

    Provost Faculty Fellow & Special Assistant to the Provost, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, August 2016-June 2018                                              

    Chair, Public Relations Department,  S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, June 2014-June2018

    Co-Director, Provost Center for Academic Excellence Initiative, Howard University, Washington, DC, 2013- 2014

    Associate Dean, Research & Academic Affairs, School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC, 2007-2013 

    Academic Faculty Appointments

    Fulbright Visiting Scholar/Specialist, School of Journalism & Digital Media, University of The Gambia, The Gambia, West Africa, June 2016 – August 2016

    Tenured Professor, Department of Public Relations, SI Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, August 2014-June 2018

    Tenured Professor, Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies, School of Communications & Graduate School, Howard University, Washington, DC, July 2013-August 2014

    Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Tenured Associate Professor and Tenured Professor, Department of Journalism, School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC, August 1998-August 2014

    Advertising and Public Relations Sequence Coordinator, Department of Journalism, School of Communications, Howard University, Washington, DC, December 2003-August 2007

    Adjunct Graduate Assistant Professor, University College, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, August 2002-December 2002

    Instructor, Department of Communication, University of Tennessee, Martin, TN, August 1995-May 1998