CCPA extends a warm welcome to our newest professor, Dr. Piyawan (Pui) Charoensap-Kelly, Assistant Professor of Organizational Communication. Students call her Dr. Kelly or Dr. Pui (pronounced “pu’-ee”).
Originally from Thailand, Dr. Kelly graduated with a B.A. in English from Silpakorn University; then received an M.A. in Organizational Communication from Southeastern Louisiana University and a doctorate degree in Communication Studies from The University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Kelly worked extensively in the communication training and development field for both for-profit and non-profit sectors in Thailand before she began her academic career as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi.
In 2018 she began lecturing at The University of Alabama Huntsville in the Communication Arts Department. There, she taught Public Speaking, Business and Professional Communication, Communication Theory, and Organizational Training and Development Courses; directed the Business and Professional Communication Course; oversaw the Internship Program for Communication Arts majors; advised assigned Communication Arts majors; and served as an adviser for the university’s student newspaper club, The Charger Times.
This fall, Dr. Kelly will teach CCPA 3360, Business and Professional Communication, and CCPA 3365, Organizational Communication.
Her recent awards include the 2019 Emerging Scholar Award, The Nineteenth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations, Organization Studies Research Network; 2018 Don George Teaching Excellence Award from USM; 2017 Don George Research Excellence Award from USM; and the 2016 Rising Star Award from the National Communication Association Training and Development Division.
Her research interests include conflict management, identity management, training and development, and humor in organizational, interpersonal, and intercultural communication settings. She is currently working on research regarding how people in Croatia, Italy, Thailand, and the United States make sense of their COVID-19 experiences and how the pandemic is affecting people’s organizational lives.
Dr. Kelly loves cooking, listening to Bossa Nova, and traveling the world with her husband. Furthermore, she has a love for working with students, sharing her passion for communication with them, and learning from them.
“I’m very delighted to be part of the SMU CCPA family!” said Dr. Kelly.
For more information about incoming CCPA professor, Dr. Kelly, visit her website.