Sung Un Yang headshot

Sung-Un Yang

Professor and Chair, Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations

  • Office: Room 126, 640 Commonwealth Ave
  • Email: yang223@bu.edu
  • Phone: 617-353-5970

About Sung-Un Yang

Sung-Un Yang is Professor and Chair of the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations at Boston University. From 2012 to 2024, Sung-Un was a faculty member and held the Ralph Winslow Endowed Professor position (2023-2024) at the Indiana University Media School, where he taught strategic communication courses. Before that, he was a tenured faculty member at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, serving as the Newhouse Endowed Professor (2011-2012). Since August 2024, Sung-Un has been a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a prestigious professional organization for global leaders in corporate communications and public relations education.

His research primarily focuses on strategic communication management, including organization-public relationships, organizational reputation management, social media and communication effectiveness, and public diplomacy. He has received several awards for his work, including the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award from the International Communication Association (ICA) Public Relations Division, as well as Top Research Paper Awards from major international conferences in his field, such as the International Communication Association (ICA), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and IPRRC (International Public Relations Research Conference).

Regarding teaching, Sung-Un was honored with the Meredith Teaching Excellence Recognition Award at Syracuse University in 2009 and the Indiana University Board of Trustees Teaching Award at Indiana University in 2021.

Since 2022, Sung-Un has served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Relations Research, the official journal of AEJMC Public Relations Division. Additionally, he has been a member of the editorial boards of various peer-reviewed journals, such as Communication Research and Communication Theory. Sung-Un has authored two books, multiple book chapters, over 100 research papers in international peer-reviewed conference papers, and articles in esteemed academic journals, including Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, American Behavioral Scientist, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Communication Management, Corporate Reputation Review, Public Relations Review, and Management of Communication Quarterly.

Sung-Un has been recognized as a Top Scientist (the World’s Top 2% Most Cited Scientists) by the Stanford University School of Medicine for five consecutive years since 2020 (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024).

Education

  • PhD, University of Maryland
  • MA, University of Maryland