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Jenna Lo Castro, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Public Relations, Advertising & Social Media

Director, School of Communication Graduate Programs

Pictured is Jenna Lo Castro. Photo | Randall Coleman

Contact Information

Education

  • Ph.D., Rhetoric, Duquesne University
  • M.A., Communication and Rhetorical Studies, Duquesne University
  • B.A., Communication and Theatre Arts, John Carroll University

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to PR & Advertising
  • Writing for Public Relations and Advertising
  • Social Media Practices
  • IMC Planning
  • IMC Research
  • Communication Theory
  • Media Literacy
  • Media Storytelling
  • Media & Society

Background

Jenna M. Lo Castro, Ph.D., is an associate professor and director of the School of Communication's graduate programs at Point Park University. Prior to joining the Point Park community, she was an assistant professor of corporate communications at Penn State, Fayette. She has taught at Pittsburgh universities including Duquesne, Carlow and Chatham.

Lo Castro is currently a director of communications and strategy for Oyster Creative Collective, a marketing agency in Pittsburgh. She has been a reviewer for various communication journals such as the Pennsylvania Communication Annual, the Ohio Communication Journal and the Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies Journal. She also has industry experience in advertising and has written for both magazine and newspaper.

Adviser

  • Ad Fed 

Professional Memberships

  • American Advertising Federation, Pittsburgh Chapter
  • American Marketing Association
  • National Communication Association
  • Eastern Communication Association
  • New York State Communication Association

Research Interests

  • Branding/Corporate Branding 
  • Communication Ethics
  • Advertising
  • Philosophy of Communication

Publications

  • (Forthcoming, Fall 2024) Lo Castro, J. Pity the Public: What Vonnegut's Writing Teaches Us about Today's PR. In T. Michaels and R. Roschia (Eds.) Vonnegut, Rhetoric and Technology. 
  • Downing, C. & Lo Castro, J. (2021). Integrated Marketing Communication. In T. Gillis (Ed.), The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer. International Association of Business Communicators. 
  • Lo Castro, J. (2021). Framing the Impact of Pseudo-Influencers via Communications Ethics. In B. Watkins (Ed.), Research Perspectives on Social Media Influencers and Brand Communication. Lexington Books. 
  • Lo Castro, J. (2020). The Proliferation of Pop-Up Shop Marketing and the Kairotic Consumer Experience. Northwest Journal of Communication.
  • Lo Castro, J. (2020). Review of Free Women, Free Men by Camille Paglia, Explorations in Media Ecology, 19 (2): 234-236.
  • Lo Castro, J. (2016). A Rhetoric of Hate Speech: Informing Snyder v. Phelps via Narrative. Pennsylvania Communication Annual, 72.1: 28-45.

Presentations

  • "Lo Castro, J. (2023, November). "'The Anticipation is Killing Me:' Extensions of Travel as Kairotic Experiences." National Communication Association Conference.
  • "A Focus on Connections: Dating App Focus Group Assignment," G.I.F.T. Scholar to Scholar poster presentation, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, PR division, 2023.
  • "Exploring Shop-in-Shop Retail and the Reshaping of Brand Image through Shared Space," paper presented, Eastern Communication Association. Panel title: "Convergent Spaces: Exploring Environments as Communicative Sites of Exploitation and/or Empowerment," 2023.
  • "Professional Development Panel," Public Relations Society of America, Pittsburgh PR Summit. Theme: "Creating Your Own Professional Roadmap," 2022.
  • "From Pipe to Dream to Pinned Dream: Pinterest as Self-Talk During & After the Covid-19 Pandemic," paper presented at New York State Communication Association Conference, 2021.
  • "A Stranger in Her Own Land: Women, Emotional Labor and a Phenomenology of Heartless Being," paper presented at Eastern Communication Association, 2020.
  • "I'm so Indecisive!" A Classroom Exploration of the Theoretical and Practical Underpinnings of Consumer Response and Behavior," paper presented at Eastern Communication Association, 2020.
  • "Beyond Diversity: Building Community in the Virtual Classroom through Social Capital," New York State Communication Association Conference, 2020.
  • "Under the Guise of CSR: Examining the Authenticity of Social Justice Initiatives as New Marketing Currency," National Communication Association, 2019.
  • "Hope in Unjust Times: Understanding the Hypermodern Abject," Eastern Communication Association, 2019.
  • "Bargain Shopping: The Rise of Pop-Up Marketing and the Renegotiation of Time and Space in a Hypermodern Age," New York State Communication Association Conference, 2018.
  • "Hypermodernity and the (Un)Ethical Utility of Superlative Rhetoric in Advertising," National Communication Ethics Conference, 2018.
  • "Branding & Consumer Involvement Exploring Illusory Calls and Responses of Identity Via Ideological Interpellation," Eastern Communication Association Convention, 2018.
  • "Situating in the Age of Internet Immersion within a McLuhanesque World," Philosophy of Communication Conference, 2015.
  • "The Unyielding Blurred Lines of Hate Speech: Informing Snyder v. Phelps Via Narrative," Eastern Communication Association Convention, 2015.  

Awards and Honors

  • Fellowship recipient, 2023 Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, AEJMC Conference.

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