Tuesday, April 13, 2021: The Faculty of Communication, Arts, and Sciences (FCAS) at Canadian University Dubai (CUD) hosted guest speaker, Dr. Timothy Coombs, in a webinar titled "Crisis Communication: Research, Main Concepts, and Case Studies." Some of the topics analyzed included; how global brands deal with a crisis and protect their reputation, how academic theories help agencies develop their strategies, and how brands should manage these situations internally.
During the discussion, Dr. Timothy Coombs, Full Professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University, shared that academic researchers play an important role in improving how companies solve crises by assisting with the development of their communication strategies. Their input is valuable as mishandling critical situations can harm stakeholders, cause loss to an organization, or end its very existence.
Dr. Pablo Medina, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Communication, Arts and Sciences at Canadian University Dubai, added that although managing a crisis constitutes risk, it also presents an opportunity to improve reputation. How a company reacts to tragedy will ultimately dictate the overall outcome.
Dr. Timothy Coombs (Ph.D. from Purdue University in Public Affairs and Issues Management) received the 2002 recipient of Jackson, Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize from the Public Relations Society of America, the 2013 Pathfinder Award from the Institute of Public Relations in recognition of his research contributions to the field and to the practice, and was also the 2014 winner of the Dean’s Distinguished Researcher Award in the College of Sciences at UCF.
Dr. Coombs has won multiple PRIDE awards from the Public Relations Division of the National Communication Association for both books and research articles.
CUD thanks him for his participation.