Karen Freberg is a Professor in Strategic Communications at the University of Louisville, where she teaches, researches, and consults in social media strategy, public relations, and crisis communication. She is also the Director of The Bird’s Nest student agency. Freberg is also an award winning author and has written several books including Social media for strategic communications: Creative strategies and research based applications and Discovering Public Relations: An Introduction to Creative and Strategic Practices. In addition to academic publications, Freberg has been interviewed for popular press publications such as Adweek, USA Today, The Next Web, MONEY, USA Today College, and Forbes. Before coming to the University of Louisville, Freberg earned a PhD in Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee in May 2011, and a Master's degree in Strategic Public Relations at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in August 2007. Freberg received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Public Relations at the University of Florida in August 2005.