May 23, 2022

Public Diplomacy Amidst New Media & New Challenges

Dr. Jami Fullerton currently serves as the Director of Academic Programs in the School of Global Studies and Partnerships at Oklahoma State University, where she primarily oversees the inter-disciplinary MS degree in Global Studies. A full professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communication, she holds the Peggy Layman Welch Endowed Chair in Strategic Communication and has taught advertising management and media theory for 24 years. Her research interests include mediated public diplomacy, nation branding and advertising education, and she has published numerous studies in national and international academic journals.  

In 2001, Dr. Fullerton won a U.S. State Department grant to conduct women’s leadership training in Uzbekistan. She has continued to work and study in Central Asia throughout her career.  In 2003, she received a grant to study public diplomacy, specifically the U.S. State Department’s advertising effort in the Muslim world.  Research resulting from the grant was published in her book with Alice Kendrick, Advertising’s War on Terrorism: The Story of the U.S. State Department’s Shared Values Initiative (Marquette Books, 2006).  Her second book, also with Alice Kendrick ,was titled, Shaping International Public Opinion: A Model for Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy (Peter Lang, 2017). She recently co-authored an introductory textbook on Strategic Communications.

Dr. Fullerton is a member of the Public Diplomacy Council of America and is frequently called up on by the US Public Diplomacy Advisory Council to provide input and consultation on matters of US public diplomacy.  Her academic work has served as a theoretical framework for developing public diplomacy strategy by the US State Department. She recently completed a Fulbright program to France. Her summers are often spent abroad where she leads study abroad trips, teaches communications courses and conducts research.  

 Jami Fullerton earned her doctorate from the University of North Texas in Denton and received her BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman in 1984.  She lives in Tulsa with her husband Sam. Her daughter Helen is a sophomore at OSU.