Karen Freberg PhD (@kfreberg) is an Assistant Professor in Strategic Communications at the University of Louisville. She also teaches online for the University of West Virginia's IMC Graduate Online Program, winning their Teacher of the Year award in 2012.Karen is an avid presenter and invited speaker in social media, crisis communications, and public relations. She has presented and worked on six continents. She has presented and run webinars on social media for Hootsuite, GM, Firestorm Solutions, and other organizations. She is the author of nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles and presentations, multiple encyclopedia entries in communications, and numerous book chapters. She co-edited a… special edition of Communication Teacher on Social Media in the Classroom. She has served as a Plank Fellow at General Motors and as the PR Division Communications manager for AEJMC.Karen's goal is to bridge practice and theory to produce professionals prepared for today's social media positions. Her students have obtained jobs and internships at GM, Team USA, Dallas Mavericks, Under Armour, Cision, and other entities. She is contacted regularly by organizations wishing to recruit her social media students.In her spare time, Karen has switched her athletic interests from being a four-time All American in track and field (holding the women's shot put record for the University of Southern California Trojans) to training for mini-marathons. She is also known for consuming massive amounts of coffee.