2025 Public Interest Communications Summer Institute Speakers and Facilitators
More speakers will be listed soon.
Jaye L. Atkinson
Jaye L. Atkinson is chair of the Department of Communication at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on the intersection of communication and stereotypes of older adults. Some of her research analyzes how communication perpetuates/negates stereotypes (e.g., the phrase “senior moment”), and in other research, she examines how stereotypes influence how people speak to older adults.
Dr. Atkinson’s most recent publications seek to understand the intersection of communication and age stereotypes by focusing on mediated portrayals. In addition to an article examining the influence of race and age stereotypes on communication and competence, she has examined mediated portrayals of older athletes and older characters in various movies, including blockbuster hit movies and Disney animated films). She has published internationally regarding the portrayals of older adults in advertising. In addition, she is working on a book, “Talking Age: Examining the (Not So) Subtle Language of Ageism across Mediated Contexts” (under contract with Peter Lang). These projects build on past research she has conducted identifying stereotypes of older adults and examining patronizing speech toward older adults.
Ruth DeFoster
Ruth DeFoster is an Assistant Professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, where she teaches courses about advertising and popular culture. Her research focuses on media coverage of crime, gun violence, fear and terrorism. She is the author of three books: Terrorizing the Masses: Identity, Mass Shootings and the Media Construction of ‘Terror’ (2017), Catholic Horror on Television: Haunting Faith (2024), andThe Fear Knot: How Science, History and Culture Shape Our Fears, and How to Get Unstuck (2025).
Kera Felton
Kera Felton is an experienced public relations account manager, specializing in tech PR and strategic communications. With a strong academic background, including a BA in Public Relations from the University of Georgia and an MA in Mass Communications from the University of Florida, Kera has researched AI in PR and has significant expertise in media relations, public interest communications, digital strategy, advanced and emerging technology. Kera is also an adjunct professor in the College of Journalism at the University of Florida. Based in Atlanta, Ga., Kera is passionate about blending technology and communication strategies to make an impact.
Rachel Grant
Rachel Grant’s academic research looks at media studies of race, gender and class and she has conducted extensive research with social movements, social justice, and Black feminism. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Human Communication Research, Journalism Mass Communication Quarterly, Celebrity Studies, Visual Communication Quarterly, American Journalism and Howard Journal of Communication. Grant has worked professionally as a news reporter for local daily newspapers and statewide magazines and has worked in corporate advertising as a digital copywriter. Grant previously served as an assistant professor in Xavier University of Louisiana’s Mass Communication Department teaching classes in strategic communication, social media management and media law.
Erin B. Hart
Erin (she/her) started Hart Strategies to put strategic communication to work in service of racial, social and environmental justice. She is a storyteller, strategist and educator who’s helped build social movements, safeguard fragile habitats, grow and diversify the healthcare workforce, reduce the number of US smokers, and get more philanthropic dollars into communities to spend on what they know matters most. She’s built learning experiences that resulted in more effective science communicators, stronger LGBTQIA+ storytellers, changing narratives on gun violence prevention, everyday behaviors protecting natural environments and better-prepared advocates advancing health policy.
Erin partners with social justice organizations to craft communications strategies, put them into action and share insights learned along the way. And she collaborates with universities introducing students to public interest communications and further connecting researchers’ insights to practice. She is a first-generation college graduate who appreciates what education and mentoring opportunities have made possible in her life. She’s received honors including the PRSA Silver Anvil, Women in Social Responsibility, and University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Hall of Fame. Learn more at HartStratComm.com.
Lauri Hennessey
Lauri Hennessey is on faculty at Seattle U, the University of Washington and University of Florida. She has 30 years of experience in advocacy, policy, media relations, strategic communications, public affairs, nonprofit leadership, community and government relations, public speaking, and strategic positioning. She has worked as a Seattle radio reporter, a Congressional press secretary, a federal public affairs manager, a CEO of her own public relations firm, and as head of Public Affairs for Edelman in the Northwest. With a lifelong interest in teaching, Lauri went back to school and completed her BA in 2020 from University of Washington and received her Master of Mass Communications from University of Florida in December, 2022, focused on Public Interest Communications, her passion. She is developing the Public Interest Communications offering at University of Washington and has been an active member of this community and the Public Interest Communications Summer Institutes.
Kristi Kendall
Kristi Kendall, president at Kristi Kendall and Co, is an expert in content production, messaging and storytelling with a 20+ year career in journalism, media and film. Kristi began her career as a producer at the ABC News magazine, 20/20. In 2009 she became John Stossel’s executive producer at Fox News and Fox Business, where she launched his highly-rated weekly show and oversaw more than a dozen documentary hours for Stossel and others. In 2014 she became the EVP at New Balloon, using moving picture content as a means of encouraging connectivity, compassion, and conversation. Notable projects there included: Kasi Lemmon’s, Harriet, and Cary Fukunaga’s, Beasts of No Nation. In 2019 she started her own company with the mission of “Connecting Hearts and Minds to Ideas that Matter.” As part of that mission, she has worked with dozens of non-profit leaders across the country to sharpen and hone their messages to improve their effectiveness and impact the world. Her company has also produced and directed dozens of video projects and her most recent project, UNDIVIDE US, is a feature documentary tackling toxic polarization and demonstrating how each of us, through our communities and individual actions, can stop it. Kristi serves on the boards of the Moving Picture Institute (MPI) and the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, two teenagers, dog and cat—all in the same apartment.
Kannette King
Kannette King joined SCHR’s Public Policy Unity as the Movement Policy Associate in October 2023. Native to Southeast Georgia, Kannette is dedicated to uplifting and amplifying the voices and stories of Black Southern folk.
Before joining SCHR, Kannette was the 2020 Ruby Hurley Legal at the Davis Bozeman Johnson Law Firm, and she also interned with the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Public Defenders office. Being a member of the JUSTGeorgia Coalition, Kannette has served as the organization’s field organizer, impacted families solidarity committee leader, and as a Garrison Fellowship Coordinator.
Kannette graduated from Spelman College in May 2023 and received her Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in film and cultural studies. Her research centered on the media’s representation of Black folks in the South and the racial and prejudicial framing of their experiences. During her undergraduate years, Kannette was an active student organizer, advocating alongside families of people impacted by police violence and the movement against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Throughout the summer of 2023, Kannette was an fellow with the Movement, Memory, and Justice Initiative through the Mellon Foundation, conducting research and documenting oral histories of the Gullah Geechee people in the low country. She was able to support communities, learn, and advocate for Black land ownership and cultural exposure.
Jasmine McNealy
Jasmine McNealy is an attorney, critical public interest technologist, social scientist and internationally recognized scholar who studies emerging media and technology with a view toward influencing law and policy. Her research is interdisciplinary, centered at the intersection of media, technology, policy, and law. Of particular focus are the areas of privacy, surveillance, and data governance and emphasizing technological and the impacts on marginalized and vulnerable communities. She is a professor at the University of Florida, where she directs the Infrastructure for Communities, Ecology for Data Hub (ICED Hub). She is also faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Angel Saint Louis
Angel Saint Louis is a Ph.D. student in the Family, Youth, and Community Sciences department as well as an Oral Historian at the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida. Her academic and professional work focuses on advocating for marginalized communities and fostering meaningful action through Public Interest Communication.
Angel is passionate about addressing systemic issues such as domestic violence, family abuse cycles, and harmful societal narratives. Her work is focused on combining her knowledge of communication and community engagement to drive positive change through activism, workshops, academia, and community engagement.
As an advocate, artist, and future professor, Angel aims to inspire social transformation by merging scholarship, creativity, and community action.”
Amy Lynn Smith
Amy Lynn Smith uses strategic communication and storytelling to catalyze action for the greater good. A writer and content specialist focused on issue advocacy, Amy works with nonprofits, foundations and public interest communication firms to create imaginative, persuasive messaging for every medium.
An award-winning advocate for healthcare reform, Amy often uses storytelling to demystify complex concepts and empower communities. She has helped organizations such as Consumer Reports and the American Foundation for the Blind create public-facing documents that simplify healthcare guidance and research reports, respectively. She also provides writing coaching – often geared toward making writing clearer and more concise – and leads workshops in both storytelling and writing skills.
Amy has a Master of Arts in Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Interest Communication from the University of Florida.
Learn more about Amy’s clients and experience: https://www.alswrite.com/about/my-clients/
Felicia Stewart
Felicia R. Stewart is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at Morehouse College. As a seasoned professional, Dr. Stewart has years of experience in educating and training students, faculty, executives, trial attorneys, business teams and more in the art of effective communication. Dr. Stewart has several publications including articles on public speaking, nonverbal communication and mock trial and is an author in books on African American rhetoric, organizational culture, and political oratory. Dr. Stewart received her B.A. in Legal Communication and Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C. A licensed attorney, Dr. Stewart received her J.D. from Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
Abbigail Tumpey, MPH
Abbigail Tumpey, MPH, is the vice president for Institute Communications at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In this role, she provides leadership, oversight, and strategic direction for marketing and communications at Georgia Tech. Serving as the Institute’s Chief Communications Officer, Abbigail has responsibility for the brand and reputation across a diverse portfolio, including media relations, events, research communications, marketing communications, internal communications, executive communications, creative services, and digital strategy.
Before joining Georgia Tech, Abbigail had a 25-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with 21 years in communication leadership positions. Notably, she served as the head of communications for CDC from March 2021 to March 2022, overseeing communication efforts for the COVID-19 emergency response. While in this role, Tumpey reimagined CDC’s communication function and implemented the largest communication reorganization that agency had undertaken in more than a decade.
During her time at CDC, Abbigail expanded clinical outreach capacity and was instrumental in developing public-private partnerships and coalitions that advanced patient safety and public health initiatives. She spearheaded numerous national and international public health campaigns, including serving as one of the founders of the World Rabies Day initiative in 2007 and overseeing CDC’s antibiotic resistance communications efforts from 2009–2016. Abbigail served in a lead communication role during numerous outbreak responses, such as the 2012 multistate outbreak of fungal meningitis, the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 MPX pandemic.
In 2016, Abbigail was named one of 36 Champions of PR by PR Week magazine for their inaugural Hall of Femme. In 2021, she was honored as one of PRWeek’s Health Influencers, celebrating the most prominent players influencing health communication and shaping the agenda around the battle against coronavirus, the race to distribute vaccines and booster shots, and narrowing disparities in health outcomes.
Abbigail received a Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University and a Master of Public Health from the University of South Florida.
Kara Fenner Walker
Born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in the small rural town of Scotland Neck, NC, Kara Fenner Walker has always been driven by a passion for storytelling and impact. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from North Carolina Central University and a Master of Science in Information Design and Communication from Kennesaw State University.
With over two decades of experience in digital marketing, Kara leveraged her expertise to launch the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival in 2019 with a vision to create a powerful platform where filmmakers can showcase their work, engage in transformative discussions, and connect with students, faculty, and local and visiting guests. The festival serves as a catalyst for dialogue—bringing human stories to the forefront, raising awareness of critical human rights and social justice issues, and inspiring action that leads to real change.
Dedicated to amplifying diverse voices, Kara remains committed to producing and supporting high-quality creative projects from the BIPOC community. She currently resides in Decatur, Georgia, where she continues to champion stories that matter.
Holley Wilkin
Holley Wilkin (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an Associate Professor of Communication and Public Health at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga. Her applied health communication research program aims to reduce health inequities in diverse urban environments. Using a community-engaged approach, Dr. Wilkin forms interdisciplinary research teams and collaborates with community members and partner organizations on projects aimed at increasing access to and use of health resources. This work uses an ecological framework—exploring individual, community, and societal level factors influencing health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. In 2018, she was awarded the K. Everett M. Rogers Award, Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section, American Public Health Association, for advancing health communication theory and practice.
Elaine Xu
Dr. Elaine Xu is a faculty member of the University of Newcastle (Australia) and a professional member of Communication and Public Relations Australia. Her keen interest in the role of framing and messaging in shaping how lived experiences are conveyed and interpreted stems from her PhD research into the fundraising campaigns of international water charities. She is passionate about the third sector and the social economy and regularly engages with social, environmental, and development issues through her research and teaching. Her research has been funded by competitive national and institutional grants, providing opportunities for her to extend the impact of her research beyond academia and into the community and the public sector. She is currently leading research projects focused on the engagement of Japanese and Australian urban residents in environmental behaviors, public communication campaigns about food security in Singapore, and parental illness blogging and fundraising. Learn more about Elaine and her research here.