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Patric
Spence

Risk and Public Relations Consultant

Patric’s research focuses crisis and risk communication, examining audience perceptions of risk and emergency messages produced by emergency management, organizations, government and news agencies. Specifically, looking at how these messages motivate various publics to take action in light of perceived threats during the lifecycle of a crisis. Other research examines how the physical and psychological needs of underserved populations are handled in the context of public health events and disasters; industry response, and the role of new media in disaster preparation, response and recovery. He has written widely on the issues of race and class surrounding Hurricane Katrina and issues of gender and information seeking in disasters.

His research has recently been cited in the National Consensus Statement on Integrating Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities into Public Health Emergency Preparedness, released by the Office of Minority Health, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also works closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a research affiliate with the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a research partner with the National Center for Food Protection and Defense and is a Next Generation of Hazard and Disaster Researchers Fellow.

Patric has assisted clients both large and small in the private sector. His clients include media groups, hospitality associations, restaurant chains and web-based companies. Most notably he works with companies on crisis planning and risk assessment, environmental assessment, psychographic and behaviorgraphic targeting, public opinion research and elements of message design and placement.

Dr. Spence also works closely with several national non-profit and charitable organizations. Other clients include local and state governments helping them best promote various campaigns and assess campaign efforts.

He has conducted several seminars on establishing presence within and through social media. A number of companies he has worked with in social media have been labeled “best on the Web.”

Recent work has been published in Communication Research Reports, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Risk Analysis, Journal of Black Studies, the Howard Journal of Communication, Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, the Journal of Emergency Management, Journal of Radio and Audio Media, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, and Sociological Spectrum. Recent book chapters can be found in Through the Eye of Katrina: Social Justice in the United States (Carolina Academic Press), How Ethnically Marginalized Americans Cope with Catastrophic Disasters: Studies in Suffering and Resiliency (Edwin Mellen Press) and Interracial Communication: Contexts, Communities, and Choices (Kendal/Hunt).


Patric Spence's Companies

Patric Spence's Publications