Karla Gower, Ph.D. LLB
Karla Gower is a professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations and director of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at The University of Alabama.
Gower practiced law in Canada for eight years before moving to Arizona in 1992 to attend Arizona State. She worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona in government relations and later GateWay Community College in Phoenix where she was responsible for internal communications and media relations. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she created collateral materials to support the development of relationships with major individual and corporate donors in the Office of University Development.
Her research focuses on legal issues affecting public relations and the history of public relations. Her publications include The Opinions of Mankind: Racial Issues, Press, and Propaganda in the Cold War (with R. Lentz, 2010), Legal and Ethical Considerations for Public Relations (2008), PR and the Press: The Troubled Embrace (2007), and Liberty and Authority in Free Expression Law: The United States and Canada (2002). She has also published articles in Communication Law & Policy, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management, American Journalism, and Journalism History. She served as editor of American Journalism from 2000 until 2004 and is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Public Relations Research and Journalism History. She has contributed entries to the Encyclopedia of Public Relations, History of the Mass Media in the United States, and the Historical Dictionary of Women’s Press Organizations.
She earned her doctorate in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in mass communication from Arizona State University, and law and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Gower practiced law in Canada for eight years before moving to Arizona in 1992 to attend Arizona State. She worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona in government relations and later GateWay Community College in Phoenix where she was responsible for internal communications and media relations. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she created collateral materials to support the development of relationships with major individual and corporate donors in the Office of University Development.
Her research focuses on legal issues affecting public relations and the history of public relations. Her publications include The Opinions of Mankind: Racial Issues, Press, and Propaganda in the Cold War (with R. Lentz, 2010), Legal and Ethical Considerations for Public Relations (2008), PR and the Press: The Troubled Embrace (2007), and Liberty and Authority in Free Expression Law: The United States and Canada (2002). She has also published articles in Communication Law & Policy, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management, American Journalism, and Journalism History. She served as editor of American Journalism from 2000 until 2004 and is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Public Relations Research and Journalism History. She has contributed entries to the Encyclopedia of Public Relations, History of the Mass Media in the United States, and the Historical Dictionary of Women’s Press Organizations.
She earned her doctorate in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in mass communication from Arizona State University, and law and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.