A Penn State professor who challenges students and appreciates the way they help her improve as a teacher was included on a list 40 inspirational faculty members under the age of 40 from across the nation.
NerdScholar featured Michel M. Haigh, an associate professor in the Department of Advertising/Public Relations, among its “40 Under 40: Professors Who Inspire” based on student nominations.
Haigh, who has been at Penn State since 2006, teaches public relations writing, public relations campaigns, research methods, and mass media and society. Along with more than six years as a public relations writer, editor and designer, she has co-authored more than 35 conference presentations, six of which have been recognized with a “Top Paper” award. She was the only faculty member from a Big Ten Conference school on the NerdScholar list of influential young faculty members.
Students cited Haigh as demanding and compassionate. They believe she has a genuine concern for them as people, and that she prepares them well for the real world.
In 2012, Haigh was recognized as a Plank Fellow. The fellowship program for public relations educators is sponsored by the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at The University of Alabama. It is designed to introduce professors to the current day-to-day operations of the public relations field.
In 2011, she was selected to attend the Scripps Howard Leadership Academy, which brings select, up-and-coming mass communication professionals and scholars together to train the next generation of leaders in journalism and mass communication.
Haigh has been recognized with the College of Communications Deans’ Excellence Award for Service as well as the Deans’ Excellence Award for Research. She earned first place in the Promising Professors competition coordinated by the Mass Communication & Society Division of the AEJMC in 2007.
Haigh has published more than 30 articles in journals such as Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Communication Monographs, Communication Research, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Newspaper Research Journal and Communication Quarterly.