Alla Kushniryk (Associate Professor)
BA (Chernivtsi State University), MS (Lviv National University), PhD (University of Tennessee)
Alla Kushniryk joined the Mount from Ukraine via the United States, where she earned a PhD in Communication and Information from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2008. Alla’s research centers on organizational communication, digital and social media, and quantitative research methods.
Currently, Alla’s research focuses on how non-profit organizations use social media to build and sustain trust-based relationships with their publics. In the past, she conducted a study examining the impact of two-way communication in the owned/earned/paid social media space. This study was funded by the Communications + Public Relations Foundation. She has also been involved in a research project on organizational trust with Natalie Doyle Oldfield, President of Success Through Trust. This project explored how organizations build, protect, and strengthen trust with their stakeholders.
Alla was also one of the investigators in a study titled Evaluation of Best-in-Class Public Relations Practices, funded by a large Canadian organization. The goal of this study was to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of public relations practices and develop best-in-class standards for PR performance in Canada. In addition, she was part of a research partnership with the Canadian Public Relations Society on the GAP (Generally Accepted Practices) VIII Canadian study. This research was part of an international project examining generally accepted public relations practices in Canada, the United States, and five other partner nations.
Alla welcomes inquiries from MA (Communication) students interested in working in the following broad areas:
· Digital and Social Media
· Health Communication
· Organizational Communication
· Quantitative Research Methods (such as survey research)
· Measurement and Evaluation
Selected Publications and Conference Presentations
Kushniryk, A. (2024). Framing Strategies, eWOM, and Audience Engagement: Analyzing Tweets from Nonprofit Organizations. Paper presented at the Atlantic Schools of Business Conference, Halifax, NS.
Kushniryk, A., Orlov S. (2024). Empowering Trust and Well-Being: An Analysis of Nonprofit Communication. Strategies on X. Paper presented at the 31th edition of International Public Relations Research Symposium (BledCom). Bled, Slovenia.
Kushniryk, A., & Orlov S. (2021). ‘Follow us on Twitter’: How public libraries use dialogic communication to engage their publics. Library & Information Science Research, 43(2), 1-7.
Kushniryk, A., Orlov S. (2020). From Open Science to Open Educational Resources: An Analysis of Open Textbooks in the Field of Communication. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia.
Thurlow, A., Kushniryk, A. Blotnicki, K. & Yue, A. (2018). Roles, decision making and access to the dominant coalition: The practice of public relations in Canada. Journal of Professional Communication, 5(2), 41-58
Oldfield, N., & Kushniryk, A. (2017). Building and Protecting Organizational Trust with External Publics: Canadian Senior Executives’ Perspectives. Canadian Journal of Communication, 42(5), 767-784.
Thurlow, A., Kushniryk, A., Yue, A., Blanchette, K., Murchland, P., & Simon, A. (2017). Evaluating Excellence: A model of evaluation for public relations practice in organizational culture and context. Public Relations Review, 43(1), 71-79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.10.013
Kushniryk, A., Titus-Roberts, J., & Wertz, E. (2014). Immigration as a catalyst for increased health awareness: Immigrant women define health and health decision making. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 12(3), 172-190.
Kushniryk, A., & Levine, K.J. (2012). Effects of multitasking on listening effectiveness in the learning environment. Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2).