Elon University
Rochelle L. Ford, Ph.D., APR, became the dean of Elon University’s School of Communications in June 2018, overseeing more than 80 full-time faculty and staff, six undergraduate majors and one master’s degree program. From 2014-2018,she served as a tenured professor and chair of the Public Relations Department in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, responsible for all public relations programs at PRWeek’s top-ranked institution. Additionally, Ford served as a Provost Faculty Fellow, co-chairing its Middle States Accreditation process. Before joining Syracuse, Ford was a faculty member and associate dean at Howard University for 16 years, mentoring African-American public relations professionals and championing the diversity agenda within the PR industry. Ford has led hundreds of presentations on multicultural communications and diversity, and her scholarly works have been published in Public Relations Tactics, The New York T