Dr. Erica Hilton

B.A., Johnson C. Smith University; M.A., American University; Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University

Bio:

Dr. Erica N. Hilton is an assistant professor of Communication and Media at Methodist University specializing in strategic communications, digital strategy, and critical media studies.

Dr. Hilton is an educator who uses her practical industry experience to develop her communications and media courses. She has over a decade of experience working in digital and strategic communications for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an international labor union, and multiple national non-profit organizations. She has managed websites, social media, and digital ad campaigns; developed and executed strategic communications campaigns; and produced a docuseries on America’s labor unions rebuilding the World Trade Center. Dr. Hilton also served as the editor-in-chief for two online publications and was the lead writer and editor for a presidential appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

As an award-winning educator and researcher, Dr. Hilton has presented her work on the representation of minority groups in the mass media and the public relations industry at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the International Public Relations Research Annual Conference (IPRRC), the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (PCA), and the Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists (ASBS).

Previously, Dr. Hilton taught at the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). Her teaching expertise includes strategic communications, critical media studies, interpersonal and organizational communication, digital media strategy, public relations, and political communication. She uses design thinking frameworks to develop courses for both nontraditional and traditional students through in-person, hybrid, and online course facilitation.