Sunha Yeo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
shyeo@ksu.edu
Campus office: 238 Nichols Hall

Sunha Yeo (Ph.D., 2019 Ewha Womans University; Ph.D., 2025 University of Oklahoma) is a scholar and educator in the Advertising & Public Relations program at Kansas State University. Prior to joining K-State, she taught public relations and public diplomacy in Seoul, South Korea, as an adjunct and invited professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (International Studies Department) and Ewha Womans University (Communication Department).

Dr. Yeo’s research has consistently focused on strategic communication management, international public relations, public diplomacy, and crisis communication. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, her research has expanded to include the impact of digitalization on public relations and communication behaviors of digital publics. Her works have been published in reputable journals such as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), American Behavioral Scientist, Media and Communication, and Place Branding and Public Diplomacy.

Dr. Yeo brings 11 years of experience in international public relations and diplomacy. She collaborated with organizations such as the UN and UNESCO, as well as governments and research institutions worldwide, and her efforts in enhancing international communication were recognized with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Award in South Korea (Award #7981). She has advised various governmental entities, including the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has delivered numerous special lectures at diplomatic missions and universities around the world.

With a multicultural background shaped by growing up in both Germany and South Korea—and academic training rooted in both Eastern and Western traditions—Dr. Yeo brings a global perspective to her undergraduate and graduate courses at the Miller School. She is passionate about guiding students to apply what they learn to real-world situations and challenges them to explore innovative approaches that reflect the complexities of today’s world, such as understanding the evolving role of new technologies in communication. She also provides career-oriented advice to support their professional growth.

Selected publications:

Yeo, S. & Hashim, Y. (2025). A Multinational Company with Foreign Employees. In S. Kim, P. M. Buzzanell, A. Mazzei & J.-N. Kim (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Employee Communication and Organizational Process. Routledge.

Yeo, S., Kim, J., Kim, J., & Ko, S. (2025). Investigating Publics’ Communicative Action in Problem Solving (CAPS) Through Data Science. Media & Communication, 13. 9552.

Cha, Y., Persad, V. J., & Yeo, S. (2024). Selective forfending on controversial issues related to large corporations: An exploration into the public’s acquisition and transmission characteristics by conspiracy orientation and problem-solving situational factors. American Behavioral Scientist, 68(10), 1412-1424. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642231174327 (Correspondent author)

Yeo, S., Cha, Y., & Kim, J.-N. (2024) Actions speak louder than words: The experiments of positive megaphoning intentions by consumer's evaluation of CEO’s ethical behaviors and message strategy for CEO's conspiracy rumor. Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies, 68(3), 273-319. https://doi.org/10.20879/kjjcs.2024.68.3.008

Qiu, L., Yeo, S., Li, X., & Kim, J.-N. (2024). Enhancing brand equity in popular culture tourism: Testing the role of fandom in a serial mediation model. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 29(8), 922-941. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2024.2351123 (Correspondent author)

Hollenczer, J. J., Grunig, J. E., Lee, H., Yeo, S., & Martino, V. (2023). From pre-science to paradigm shift: A Kuhnian analysis of 100 years of public relations scholarship. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(4), 933-957. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231181417

Yeo, S., Lee, H., & Eschbach, A. (2023). Measuring soft power via positive spontaneous actions of foreign publics: The harder power of voluntary experience, voluntary megaphoning, and general interest. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 20, 130-141. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41254-023-00309-2.

Yeo, S., & Rhee, Y. (2023). Communicating effectively with foreign publics during COVID-19: A hierarchy of effects model of OPDC, NREC, RADIO, and positive megaphoning. Journal of Public Relations, 27(2), 1-25. https://www.earticle.net/Article/A431977