Amanda J. Weed received her Ph.D. at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University (2018), M.S. in Journalism from Ohio University (2013), and B.A. in Broadcasting, Organizational Communication and Public Relations from Otterbein University (2011).  In addition to her education, she earned APR certification from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 2015.

Amanda’s doctoral research focused on pedagogy in advertising and public relations.  In addition to her doctoral research, she has presented research on the topics of interactive narratives, the use of social media in strategic communication and consumer relations, and health communication at several conferences including the National Communication Association, Society for Case Research (SCR), MBAA International, and the Association for Education in Mass Communication and Journalism (AEJMC).  Her research has earned placement in the AEJMC Public Relations Division Teaching Paper (3rd place) and G.I.F.T. (1st place) competitions, Communication Theory and Methodology Chaffee-McLeod Competition (3rd place), and was competitively selected to participate in the 2014 National Communication Association (NCA) Doctoral Honors Seminar.  Her research has also been published in Journal of Public Relations Research, the Business Case Journal and Journal of Critical Incidents, and Social, Mobile, and Emerging Media Around the World: Communication Case Studies.

Amanda taught numerous public relations courses at Ashland University and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University including Introduction to Strategic Communication, Public Relations Writing, Public Relations Campaigns, Strategic Communication Theory and Research, and Strategic Social Media.  She has also guest lectured at Ohio University and Otterbein University on the topics of strategic branding, managing online brand reputation and entertainment education campaigns.  In addition to teaching, she as served as faculty adviser for the Ashland University Chapter of PRSSA and Bateman Case Study Competition (PRSSA) team.  In 2015, she earned 2nd place in the AEJMC Mass Communication and Society Promising Professor Competition.

Amanda serves in multiple leadership roles at the local and national level.  Currently, she works with Dr. Karen Freberg (University of Louisville) to manage the Social Media Professors Community, which is an independent educational forum with more than 850 members from diverse fields of education and industry.  She is also co-founder of #SMStudentChat, a monthly Twitter chat that connects students and industry practitioners to discuss ongoing trends in social media communication.  She previously served as a member of the social media promotion team for the Educators Academy of PRSA and At Large Director for the Society for Case Research, and Head (2014-2015) of the Graduate Student Interest Group (GSIG) of AEJMC.  She has also served at the university level as a senator representing the Scripps College of Communication in the Graduate Student Senate, Interdisciplinary Council and Library Committee at Ohio University.

Before pursuing her graduate education, Amanda earned more than a decade of professional experience as a business owner, branding consultant, and producer for several radio stations.