Institute for International Communication

The multinational corporate community is at the vanguard of development. Without the globalization of many industries, it is difficult to imagine the level of human welfare we have reached in many parts of the world. Yet the corporate engines drive human and societal development, and shape human behaviors, largely in accordance with their own interests. The corporate communities must, therefore, also shoulder various societal responsibilities, and commit to achieving public goals.  The United Nations Global Compact is an example of this in that it recognizes the role of corporate community in human flourishing, and urges corporate entities to engage in human welfare and sustainable development to promote human dignity.

The Institute for International Communication considers corporate communities, in conjunction with key governmental agencies, NGO’s and the public sector, as the primary force for shaping the norms and practices of economic and political globalization, and thus, seeks to both invite research and address the research needs of these stakeholders in the area of communication at large, including organizational communication.

The Institute for International Communication envisions bringing together the above-mentioned entities and agencies for an ongoing dialogue, debate, and exchange of ideas and issues of interest for the purposes of the formation of viable public sphere in support of sustainable development, human welfare, and well-functioning democracies. In accordance with the Vincentian mission of St. John’s University, the Institute for International Communication adopts the promotion of human rights as one of its core values, manifested, for example, by its engagement with contemporary debates concerned with taxing such rights. 

IICM Fellows:

Katelyn Kim, Ph.D. 

Katelyn Kim is a visiting scholar to the Institute for International Communication from 2021-2023. 

I am honored to join the St. John’s University community as a visiting scholar. I was a professor at Donggang University (College of Hospitality Business) and at Suwon Science College(College of International Business) in South Korea. Over my eight years of teaching, I have taught a variety of hospitality business courses such as Event and Convention Management, Culinary Arts, Tourism Management, and International Business. My research interests include technology in the hospitality industry, human resources, culinary arts, tourism, and sustainability. I have published several research articles and textbooks in this field(Additional information can be found on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RIGHFnEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra).

I earned my bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Business from Kyunggi University and Michigan State University. I continued education and completed a master's degree in Hospitality Business from University of Nevada Las Vegas and my second master's degree in Technology Management from University of New Hampshire in Durham. I completed my Ph.D. degree in Tourism and Hospitality Business at Kyunggi University. I received a Diplôme de Cuisine and Patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu French Culinary Institute in France.

My working experiences have afforded me countless global hospitality experiences, and a unique perspective of diverse cultures. I have been involved in planning mega-events or business exhibitions such as the FINA World Swimming Championship in Gwangju and the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. As a project manager at Hyundai Motors, I had visited over 25 countries and hosted more than 50 business events. I had participated in the opening of ‘Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul,’ which is the first Michelin restaurant in South Korea. I have worked for Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Le Cordon Bleu International.

I am very grateful and excited for the opportunities to work with Dr. Monteiro, Dr. Iandoli, and Dr. Park as a visiting scholar of the Institute for International Communication at St. John’s University (2021-2022). During the period, I will be exploring various impacts of new technologies on the hospitality and tourism industry in NYC and be expanding my research areas to social inclusion issues in the field.

I look forward to conducting meaningful research during my time here as well as sharing my expertise with students and faculty at the St. John's community.

Dr. Minna Aslama Horowitz 

Minna Aslama Horowitz (PhD, SocSci): Docent Professor, University of Helsinki; Expert in Digital Rights and Advocacy, Central European University.

Two decades of experience in: Design of collaborative practices for multi-stakeholder issues and events. Innovation in higher education. In-depth knowledge of digitalization and global development. Strategy-building for new non-profits. Expert community- and network-building on- and off-line. Quantitative and qualitative academic and applied, policy-focused research expertise, ranging from diversity analysis to Design Thinking and Living Labs. Advocacy for gender issues, public and Independent media, and communication rights. 60+ academic publications.

Some organizations I worked/am working with: Aalto University, Central European University, European Science Foundation, Finnish Broadcasting Company, Fordham University, Global PSM Experts Network, Kota Alliance, Ministry of Communication and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, GESCI ICT Education and Innovation, New America Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Social Science Research Council, United Nations. Personal website here.

Dr. Cristina Pérez-Cordón

Cristina Pérez-Cordón works at the United Nations Headquarters in New York since 2005. Before coming to New York, she worked as a teacher and a teacher trainer in Spain (her home country), Belgium, Brazil and Argentina. She earned a PhD in Linguistics, a Master’s degree in Spanish Language and an International Master in Education and Communication. Her main areas of study are teaching Spanish as a foreign language and intercultural communication. 

Dr. Kevin Rioux

Kevin Rioux, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at St. John’s University.  In his work, he uses social justice metatheory, information behavior frameworks, and integrated human development models to explore how information access enhances both social and economic development in local and international contexts

IICM Visiting Scholars:

Dr. Laura Tommaso, Research Scholar, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Molise, Italy.  (Spring 2020) 

Dr. Min Zhang, Research Scholar, Associate Professor in the Department of Information Management and Information System at ChangChun University, JiLin (Fall 2018)

Dr. Haeok Kim, Department of Tourism at Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea (Fall 2018)

Dr. Luca Rossi, Senior Researcher for the Italian National Institute of Public Health (Spring 2018)

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bauer, Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria (Fall 2017)

Denisse Gabriela Dávila Zúñiga, Visiting Scholar- Student, Universidad de Sonora, Mexico (Fall 2017)

Dr. King-Wa Fu, Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Associate Professor at the MIT Media Lab (Spring 2017)

This area provides trans-disciplinary explorations of topics around the broad field of international communication. Content published here ranges from scholarly articles to presentations that draw connections from disciplines such as sports, law or religion to communication and examine these areas of interest from an international perspective. “Exploring topics” aims to enhance a trans-disciplinary dialogue by bringing experts from various disciplines together and inspiring an exchange of ideas for examining innovative research issues.