Editorial Record: Submitted December 18, 2024. Revised July 18, 2025. Accepted September 22, 2025.
Authors
Ruoyu Sun Assistant Professor University of Georgia Georgia, USA Email: rsun@uga.edu
Yan Jin Professor University of Georgia Georgia, USA Email: yanjin@uga.edu
Wenqing Zhao Ph.D. Candidate University of Georgia Georgia, USA Email: Wenqing.Zhao@uga.edu
ABSTRACT
The rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) introduces new challenges to crisis communication. This teaching brief describes a crisis simulation exercise, conducted separately in two crisis communication classes at a university in the United States, where undergraduate public relations students apply crisis communication theories to address a GenAI misuse scenario based on the artificial intelligence (AI) scandal involving Sports Illustrated. Students assume roles of crisis management team members, board members, or journalists to perform specific tasks throughout the simulation. A mock press conference is integrated into the simulation, enabling students to engage in real-world crisis communication dynamics and practice their crisis communication skills in a realistic, high pressure setting. Afterward, the crisis responses developed in each class are shared for critique, objective feedback, and reflective learning.
Adrienne A. Wallace Grand Valley State University Editor-in-Chief Journal of Public Relations Education Email: wallacad@gvsu.edu
Thank you for engaging with the Journal of Public Relations Education (JPRE) and with this final issue of 2025 (11-3). In this issue, once again, we showcase the vibrancy, innovation, and care that public relations educators bring to their classrooms and curricula. The manuscripts collected here reflect a shared commitment to preparing students for a profession that is increasingly data-driven, AI-mediated, and equity-focused, while remaining grounded in ethical practice and human-centered communication.
This issue features pedagogical work that helps students navigate emerging technologies with critical insight and practical skill. One teaching brief immerses undergraduates in a high-pressure simulation of an AI-triggered crisis, asking them to apply crisis communication theories in real time, collaborate across stakeholder roles, and reflect on the ethical use of generative AI in organizational communication. Another contribution uses AI-generated, arts-based audience personas to deepen students’ audience analysis, integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion principles so that students practice ethical prompt design, realistic representation of identities, and research-informed segmentation for strategic campaigns.
Alongside these technology-focused innovations, this issue also advances the conversation about quantitative literacy in public relations. One study introduces the construct of “closeness to numbers,” illuminating how practical, civic, and cultural numeracies can be nurtured over time, through concrete contexts, supportive learning communities, and intentional efforts to counter math anxiety and negative self-talk. Together, these pieces underscore that preparing students for contemporary practice means helping them both interpret data and understand the human stories, identities, and power structures that those data represent.
Across the manuscripts in 11-3, several themes emerge: the value of experiential learning, the importance of safe and inclusive learning environments, and the need to integrate data, technology, and IDEA throughout the curriculum rather than confining them to isolated modules or single courses. The authors in this issue offer concrete models, simulation designs, assignment structures, and conceptual frameworks that colleagues can adapt to their own institutional contexts and student populations.
JPRE continues to depend on an army of volunteers, comprising a vibrant community of reviewers, authors, and readers who share a vision of public relations education that is evidence-based, ethically grounded, globally engaged, and, dare I even say it… fun! Gratitude is extended to the authors, reviewers, and production team whose volunteer labor and scholarly generosity make this issue possible, and to the educators who will carry these ideas into their classrooms and programs. We appreciate your support, encouragement, love, and trust in our humble journal.
