Susan McFarlane-Alvarez, Ph.D.

Susan Mc Farlane-Alvarez

I am a Professor at Michigan State University, where I research and teach in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, part of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. My work focuses on the intersection of identity, images, and corporate expression. I examine the ideological links that underpin the material and historical realities of creative production, and how these shape expressions of identity in advertising.

My research has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Advertising Education, Caribbean Educational Research Journal, Advertising and Society Review, Howard Journal of Communication, and Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. I also co-edited a book published by Kendall Hunt, titled Different Together. I serve as faculty advisor for 42pointSEVEN—a student-run, integrated communication agency—and I founded and direct the faculty consortium, Communication Solutions for a Diverse Society. Recently, my research has explored the interconnections between inclusion and sustainability in times defined by (poly)crisis.

With more than two decades of academic experience, I’m committed to engaged pedagogical strategies that build pathways of access between academia and professional advertising and public relations practice. I’ve also taught and conducted research at the University of the West Indies, Georgia State University, and Clayton State University.

Outside academia, I’ve remained active in the persuasion industries, starting as a writer, then creative director with agencies including All Media Projects and Hernandez/Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), before becoming a consultant to a wide range of clients. My professional work spans industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, training, and tourism, covering markets from North to South America. In both my research and teaching, I focus on affordable learning and on expanding access to advertising education and professional practice.

McFarlane-Alvarez, S., Norman, M. V. (2023). "Corporate reckoning and prosopopeic consumer-brand disidentification: Rebranding and reimaging Georgia’s Stone Mountain Park." Advertising and Society Quarterly.

Journal of Advertising Education - Sage Journal cover

Norman, M. V., McFarlane-Alvarez, S. (2023). "Beyond Colorblindness in Advertising Education: Multiculturalism and Advertising Pedagogy Since the 2020 Racial Reckoning." Journal of Advertising Education, 27(2), 91-100.

Kononova, A. G. (Ed.), McFarlane-Alvarez, S. (Ed.), Mastin, T. (Ed.). (2023). "Different together: In advertising and public relations." Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing. ISBN: 9798765765289.

Caribbean Educational Research Journal cover

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan L. “Caribbean Creativity in the North American Classroom: Deploying Difference and Ingenuity for Community-Engaged Pedagogy.” Caribbean Educational Research Journal Special Issue: Voices Afar, vol. 5, no. 1, 2020, pp. 68–84.

Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship cover

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan and McDonald, Shandra. (2020). Building Bridges with Big Brothers, Big Sisters: Service-learning links between professional and civic engagement education at a Predominantly Black Institution. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship. August 2020, no. 1, pp. 33-37.

Flow Online Journal of Television and Media Studies cover

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan. (2019). “Go back where you come from!” Aesthetic identity, “This Land” and “Old Town Road”. Flow Online Journal of Television and Media Studies, 26(01).

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan (2014). Human Billboarding: Peopled Publicity and a New Space of “Agency” in Advertising. Advertising and Society Review, 15(1).

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan. (2007). “Trinidad and Tobago Television Advertising as Third Space: Hybridity in the Caribbean Mediascape.” in Howard Journal of Communication. 2007. Volume 18 Issue

The Encyclopedia of Documentary Film cover

McFarlane-Alvarez, Susan. (2005). “Documentary Film: West Indies and Caribbean" in The Encyclopedia of Documentary Film. Ian Aiken (Ed.) New York: Routledge.

Teaching

In my teaching, I embrace diversity and engagement. I launched an in-classroom student agency, which students named TRUST – Transforming Relations Using Student Thinkers. I continue this engaged-learning approach through my involvement with MSU's 42Point7 student-run integrated communication agency.

Courses Taught and Current Work

At Michigan State University, I continue my work of examining how corporations and their brands intersect with issues of individual identity, on the axes of race and ethnicity. In particular, I engage in research that considers how individual identity shapes and is shaped by corporate identity. I'm also focused on the ways in which academia can build a foundation of diversity that fosters the same within the worlds of advertising and public relations practice.

Advertising and Public Relations

Principles of Advertising
Public Relations Topics in Advertising
Integrated Campaigns
Advertising Internship
Mass Communication and Public Health

Writing for Public Relations
Identity and Representation in Public Relations and Advertising
Public Relations Strategy and Ethics in a Digital World
Integrated PR Campaigns
Special Topics in Public Relations

Advertising and Public Relations

Introduction to Advertising*
Introduction to Public Relations*
Public Relations Principles & Practices*
Principles Project Management (Campaigns)
Social Media

Other corporate communication courses

Crisis & Change Communication
Media Industries

Other communication courses

Communication Theory
Communication in Context
Internship/Practicum in Communication and Media Studies
Interpersonal Communication
Presentation Applications
Presentational Speaking
Public Speaking

Other media courses

Cultural Industries in the Caribbean: Cinema, Moving Images, Advertising. Introduction to Media Studies
Media and Culture

* Community-engaged learning: in-class student agency and collaboration with community partner client.

Georgia State University (2002 – 2006)

Acting (and Directing the Actor) for the Camera
Film Aesthetics and Analysis
Media and Culture
Public Relations

The University of The West Indies (1993 – 2001)

Survey Course in Human Communication, School of Continuing Studies.

About 42Point7 student agency

It's my honor to join the mission of 42Point7, a student-run integrated marketing communications agency housed in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University. Launched in the spring of 2021, this opportunity provides undergraduate and graduate students with experiential learning, and prepares them for internships and entry-level positions in the industries.

About TRUST student agency

Each semester, I build a student agency from the ground-up. Through intensive experiential learning, students in my Advertising and Public Relations classes learn the fundamentals, and within a few short months, are developing strategic, creative solutions, working with real-world clients, and producing materials that are media-ready.

TRUST was launched in 2013 as an in-class community-engaged initiative
Students work together in client crews made up of account executives, copywriters, designers/producers to serve the advertising and P.R. needs of clients
Students have strategized and produced TV commercials, radio, print, web, social media, news releases, point of sale materials and events, to name a few
Clients served by students since its launch include: