Professor - Corporate Communication
Office: Music Education 217
Visual and Performing Arts
College of Arts & Sciences
SusanMcFarlane-Alvarez@clayton.edu
Susan McFarlane-Alvarez (Ph.D. Georgia State University, 2006) is Professor of Corporate Communication in Clayton State University’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts, where she also serves as program coordinator for Communication and Media Studies. Her research focuses on advertising, identity and the social impact of the persuasion industries. Alongside her career in academia, McFarlane-Alvarez has over 25 years of international experience in advertising and public relations, and has worked as a Creative Director to a regionally-focused, global agency, and as a consultant in public relations and advertising, to corporations across a diverse array of industries, from finance to manufacturing, training to tourism, and governmental to non-governmental interests. Bringing this experience to the classroom, McFarlane-Alvarez teaches students of advertising and public relations through engaged learning that builds collaborative experiences between community partners and students who are rising professionals.
Ph D, Communication, Georgia State University, 2006
MA, Communication, Georgia State University, 1993
BA, Communication, State University of New York , 1991
Creative Excellence - Below the Line - Financial, Advertising Agencies Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, 1999
Creative Excellence - Best Radio - Services, Advertising Agencies Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, 2000
Creative Excellence - Best Radio - Health, Advertising Agencies Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, 2001
Creative Excellence - Best Radio, Advertising Agencies Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, 2004
Creative Excellent - Best Campaign, Advertising Agencies Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, 2002
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, “Go back where you come from!” Aesthetic identity, “This Land” and “Old Town Road”, Flow Online Journal of Television and Media Studies – September 16 2019
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Bim and Joebell: Filmic Representations of Colonial and Postcolonial Caribbean Identity, Ian Randle Publishers – September 25 2015
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Shandra McDonald, , Building Bridges with Big Brothers, Big Sisters: Service learning links between professional and civic engagement education at a Predominantly Black Institution, Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship – November 2020
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Caribbean Creativity in the North American Classroom: Deploying Difference and Ingenuity for Community-Engaged Pedagogy, Caribbean Educational Research Journal - University of the West Indies – April 2020
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Human Billboarding:Peopled Publicity and a New Space of “Agency” in Advertising, Advertising and Society Review – July 2014
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Human Billboarding: Corporate (Post-)Colonialism and the Evolution of Branded Neo-Tribes, CSA Annual Conference, Cultural Studies Association – April 2006
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, “Transforming Relations Using Student Thinkers” for Big Brothers, Big Sisters: Using service learning in public relations to build bridges between professional and civic engagement education at a Predominantly Black Institution, Building Bridges: 2018 Annual Convention, Eastern Communication Association – April 29 2018
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, RuAnn Keith, Freda Wynn, Conceptual Resonance: A Three-Phase Study Applying Chion's Theoretical Perspectives of Acousmetre and Sound en Creux, Visual Communication Conference, Visual Communication Association – June 2003
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, Imagining the Nation through Neighbor Crisis: Venezuelan 'Revolution' Televised in Trinidad and Tobago, Trans-National Literature and Film: Cultural Production and the Claims of History. , Cultural Production and the Claims of History – January 2004
Susan L. McFarlane-Alvarez, , Social Activism and Resistance in Corporate TV Commercials: Uncovering rhetorical periods and catalytic events during the 2016/2017 Presidential Primary, Election and Inauguration, 32nd Annual Disciplinary Conference in the Humanities: Dichotomies / Schisms / Divisions, University of West Georgia – October 27 2017
University, College of Arts and Sciences Scholar of the Year Award, Committee Member – March 2014 to Fall 2015
College, College of Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year Committee, Committee Member – August 15 2018 to May 15 2019
Department, Department of Visual and Performing Arts Creative Careers Job Fair Committee, Committee Member – Summer 2019 to Spring 2020
University, Marketing Advisory Committee, Committee Member – Spring 2017 to Spring 2019
College, Mini Grants Committee, Committee Member – Fall 2010 to Spring 2013
Member, Florida Communication Association Fall 2016 to Present
Member, Caribbean Studies Association, International – December 2019 to Present