Crisis Communication Think Tank

About CCTT:

The Crisis Communication Think Tank (CCTT) was established in 2018 at the University of Georgia (UGA) as a thought leadership entity. It is designed to further discussions and understanding of crisis communication and strategic conflict management, with an emphasis on evolving technologies.

Housed at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and led by the C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership, the CCTT aims to build collaborations among leading crisis scholars and practitioners globally, through dialogue on emerging topics and co-creation of evidence-based advice for next-generation crisis research and practice. Our overarching goals are:

To connect crisis communication experts from the segmented worlds of academia and industry practice.
To reshape and refine how crisis communication is understood and practiced.
To advance crisis communication knowledge via academic-practitioner collaborative research.
To educate the next generation of crisis communication scholars and practitioners.
To design protocols for handling “sticky crisis” challenges effectively and ethically at top decision-making level via crisis preparedness and resilience.

CCTT membership is by invitation only, based on an individual’s recognized leadership status and contributions to academic research and/or industry practice in the crisis field. Also, members are expected to have a sustained contribution to the CCTT’s mission and goals. Crisis scholar and practitioner members and invited guests participate in an annual CCTT gathering [see featured story about our 2022 gathering on POP (Power of People) and the UGA news storyhighlighting the success and impact of CCTT on research, practice and education)].

Among various CCTT outputs, we have published a book “Advancing Crisis Communication Effectiveness: Integrating Public Relations Scholarship with Practice” and an e-booklet “POP (Power of People)”, co-created and contributed by crisis scholars and practitioners.

CCTT has become a model practice for center-based knowledge innovation and academia-industry collaborative research that tackles challenging, complex and recurring crisis and conflict issues affecting organizations and societies. The CCTT model is featured in The Handbook of Crisis Communication (2^nd edition). We have led the new PR News annual crisis survey design and report. We recently launched the “global crisis index” project with Public Relations Organisation International (PROI) Worldwide.

For media inquiries email us at: crisiscommcoalition@uga.edu.

The Crisis Communication Think Tank brought industry professionals and academic scholars together for a collaborative discussion.

Dr. Yan Jin

Dr. Yan Jin is a professor of public relations and the C. Richard Yarbrough Professor in Crisis Communication Leadership at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia (UGA). She is co-founder and director of the Crisis Communication Think Tank and associate director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication at UGA. She has authored more than 100 journal articles and over 30 book chapters, as well as edited scholarly books including Advancing Crisis Communication Effectiveness: Integrating Public Relations Scholarship with Practice and Social Media and Crisis Communication. She received the Association for Business Communication’s 2019 Kitty O. Locker Outstanding Researcher Award. She is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society.

Dr. Jin’s work serves as a framework for crisis and risk communication in a rapidly evolving media landscape and amidst emotionally charged conflict situations, ranging from organizational crises to disasters and public health emergencies. Strategic communicators facing high-stake threats have an increasing need for evidence-based guidelines for crisis and risk information dissemination to address affected communities’ informational and emotional needs, to ensure safety and welfare of publics and organizations, and ultimately to build community resilience and aid crisis recovery. Dr. Jin’s research program in crisis communication, conflict management, and health risk communication contribute to the advancement of strategic communication theory and provide insights for public relations practice.

C. Richard "Dick" Yarbrough

C. Richard “Dick” Yarbrough has enjoyed a distinguished career in public relations. Following his retirement from BellSouth Corporation in 1993, he joined the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games as managing director. Yarbrough is the author of the 2002 memoir, “And They Call Them Games,” which provides an insider’s view of the 1996 Games. For more than two decades, he has written a syndicated newspaper column reaching 600,000 households and more than 1.3 million readers each week.

His honors are many: University of Georgia Distinguished Alumnus, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Fellow, one of PRWeek’s 100 most influential PR practitioners of the 20th century, one of Georgia’s 100 most powerful and influential people, and a member of the Public Relations Society of America Georgia Chapter Hall of Fame. He also is past president of the University of Georgia National Alumni Association.

Yarbrough makes his home in Atlanta. His continued generosity enables the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication to fund numerous student internships each semester.

Dick Yarbrough (ABJ '59) became an industry expert on crisis communication throughout his illustrious career.