Kenn Gaither

T. Kenn Gaither is a professor of strategic communications who holds the A.J. Fletcher Professorship at the Elon University School of Communications, where he teaches courses in international public relations, public relations and mass communication. He has published in several public relations journals, including the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review. He has written or co-authored three books, most recently Globalization and Public Relations in Postcolonial Nations: Challenges and Opportunities (Cambria, 2012). Gaither also has more than nine years of professional public relations agency experience and was part of a public relations team that won a Hyundai MicroElectronics of America Excellence in Service Award for public relations work associated with its $4.5 billion merger with LG Semicon in 1999. Gaither speaks Portuguese and has lived or taught in Brazil, Ghana, Turkey and China. He has sailed on nine voyages of Semester at Sea, most recently serving as executive dean on the summer 2012 voyage.

Most recently, he served as the president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Shipboard Education (Semester at Sea) in Charlottesville, VA, on leave from Elon during the 2014-2015 academic year.