Professor Christine Huang Yi-hui, CLASS new Associate Dean (Faculty and Research) and Chair Professor of Communication and Media, hails from a small village in southern Taiwan. Her career has spanned continents and different fields within the communication discipline.

Huang has likened her professional development to a soul-searching journey. In part, such an outlook is inspired by Paulo COELHO, one of her favourite authors. It was Coelho’s book The Alchemist that drove her to pursue her own “personal legend” – one’s ultimate spiritual purpose in life – a life lesson the professor hopes to impart to all her students.

Towards a Vocation
Huang did not enter academia from the get-go. After completing her Master’s studies in the United States, she worked for international public relations firms and agencies. However, when a chance to work as a lecturer at a university arose, Huang embraced the change.

“I realised that I like academia very much,” she explains, “because I am given a lot of room for autonomy. It is the perfect space where I can pursue my curiosities and knowledge and enjoy a kind of freedom.”

Following years of speaking at events and lecturing in universities, Huang’s specialism has developed to include strategic communication; public relations management; conflict resolution and negotiation; crisis management and risk communication; and cross-cultural communication and relationships.

Huang decided to further her studies and pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Maryland (US) a year after her child was born. Juggling a PhD and motherhood, Huang remembers this time as a challenging but essential part of her journey in becoming the best version of herself.

“At the time when I chose the field of strategic communication, or so-called public relations, it was an area very few scholars touched upon,” says Huang. “How academia defines the area of public relations is very different from the general perceptions of PR. Scholars look at conflict resolution, crisis and risk communication, while the general public look at it from the perspective of revenue generation such as marketing communication. My approach is yet different. I approach the field from the perspective of cost reduction resulting from resolving conflict and managing crisis that come in the form of activism or complaints.”

As a conflict resolution scholar, Huang has spoken at over 100 events around the world, delivering about 20 keynote speeches internationally. One of her main areas of research touches on modern Greater Chinese societies. Her many case studies on crises and risks allow Huang to draw major lessons for public sector organisations and private corporations to help formulate their policies. Her work earned her an invitation to deliver a keynote speech on engagement from an East Asian culture perspective at the annual International Atomic Energy Agency conference 2018 as the sole non-technology expert in the congregation.

The Value of Hard Work
Huang is no stranger to being invited to reputable places. A long-time dream of Huang was to attend Harvard Law School’s prestigious Program on Negotiation as a visiting professor.

“I actually already had an invitation from another programme at Harvard University as a Fulbright Scholar, but the Program on Negotiation was still my first priority,” says Huang.

She still remembers the morning of 5 June 2003 well. This was the day she received an email from the Program on Negotiation director that stipulated if Huang was still interested, she could get an invitation providing she could supply a recommendation from Professor Thomas SCHELLING.

Schelling is a Nobel Laureate (2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences) and Professor Emeritus from Harvard who joined the University of Maryland upon his retirement from the former.

To Huang, everything fell into place. “The University of Maryland is where I took his courses and Professor Schelling served on my PhD dissertation committee.” Huang was one of Schelling’s students in a class of 40 and one of the two who received top marks. Huang wrote to her former professor and within 10 minutes he replied that not only would he recommend her but he would do so by calling Harvard directly.

“That was a very rewarding experience for me and it was a very exciting year,” she recollects. “Having this recommendation and gaining this opportunity was a verification of all my hard work.”

The professor often shares this story with her students as an example of the kind of opportunities that can lie in wait when one does the hard work. “I never imagined there would be a day when this kind of opportunity would come my way. And this actually inspired me to work harder as a mentor and teacher. I would do whatever I can to help my students because I know that even a very small amount of effort on my part may mean a lot to someone else and that it may influence their entire life.”

Leading the Next Generation
Helping young scholars is now a priority for Huang who, these days, devotes most of her time to research. “CityU is best known for its engineering and technology curriculum. It’s an energetic and fastmoving environment. But in between the science and technology, and humanities and social sciences departments there are still some gaps to be filled. I think my research and know-how may help bridge those gaps.”

As a newly elected Fellow of the International Communication Association (ICA) – the first Chinese female scholar across the Strait to achieve this monumental feat – Huang is in a unique position to mentor the next generation of academics in this field.

Research and theories in technologies quickly become dated, Huang elaborates, which poses a definite challenge not only in her field but to all academia.

For those who venture into this discipline, the new Associate Dean advises students to really identify what they wish to dedicate themselves to. “People get very busy with all the information bombarded at them from the outside. But they do not have much time to really sit down and listen to themselves. In a way, I think that is a little dangerous, especially for youngsters because they, their dreams or passions, may be defined by others and not by themselves. So they cannot really experience this kind of soul searching process. Every person is very unique – only they understand their own uniqueness in terms of strengths and weaknesses.”