Adrienne Wallace

Adrienne Wallace

Adrienne A. Wallace is an enthusiastic communicator with more than 20 years' experience in both the public and private sectors ranging in scope from nonprofit, health, education, government, hospitality, politics, lobbying and finance. Despite not having an AOL screen name until her freshman year of undergrad and knowing the pain of dial-up internet and pay-by-the-minute cell phone service, she spent most of her career directing the digital and social media efforts for clients. Wallace is the co-creator and course lead for COM 629: Advanced Social Media Strategy

Wallace is a prolific author and conference presenter. In 2021 she co-authored: Marketing, Public Relations, & Communications in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: How to harness insights and make strategic data-driven decisions through Oxford as well as Social Media & Society: An Introduction to the Mass Media Landscape through Rowman & Littlefield. In 2020, she brought home top GIFT awards from PRSAEA and AEJMC for co-authoring the Diversity and Inclusion Wheel for PR Practitioners and co-authored the top paper at AEJMC (PRD) for a study of PRSSA Faculty Adviser satisfaction. She was named WMPRSA PR Practitioner of the Year in 2020, and received a PRSSA Teahan Award for National Outstanding Adviser of the Year in 2019 for her work with Grand Valley State’s PRSSA chapter, her home institution.

You can find her work in Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Public Relations Education, Communication Center Journal as well as in books like Democracy in the Disinformation Age by Routledge, the Companion for PR through Routledge, the Emerging Media Handbook with Emerald Press and Social Media Influencers and the Changing Landscape of Brand Communication with Lexington and Cases in Public Relations Strategy with SAGE among others. She's a regular contributor to Ragan's PRDaily, Grand Rapids Business Journal and the podcast PR Nation.

Wallace is a Kopenhaver Center Fellow (2020) and a Michigan Political Leadership Fellow (2015). She earned her Ph.D. in public administration with a focus in public affairs and public policy from Western Michigan University (WMU) where she focused on the intersection of public relations, participation and lobbying on the creation/implementation and communication of food and wellness public policy in the United States.

Wallace’s home institution is Grand Valley State University where she is an associate professor and teaches in the advertising and public relations degree program in the school of communications. Additionally, she maintains a practice at BlackTruck Media & Marketing in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a digital strategist.