Written by Marlowe Dunn Flom
Dr. Mariam Shaikh, who serves as the United Nations (UN) Communications Advisor to the President of the General Assembly, is also a Florida State University (FSU) School of Communication alumna. Shaikh credits the School with instilling key skills and insights that helped her get to where she is today.
Graduating in 2016 with a Ph.D in Philosophy and Emergency Management Communication, Shaikh first came to the US as a Fulbright Scholar from Pakistan previously working in Pakistan’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. She attended FSU to bridge the gap between what she had already been practicing and academic theory. Inspired by the hurricane alert system she experienced while at FSU, Shaikh researched risk communications and the dynamics of media innovations in use by low-income nations to prepare communities for disasters. Her research won first place at the International Association of Emergency Managers Conference and she eventually implemented this research at Pakistan’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Dr. Shaikh created specialized risk communication training modules and workshops for editors, journalists, first responders and others that the government adopted— connecting her School of Communication studies with her professional practice.
This extends to her work at the UN where she served as Press Counselor and
Public Diplomat for the Pakistan Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York. Now she works as the UN Communications Advisor to the President of the General Assembly where she develops Advocacy Campaigns, manages Official UN sites, advises media outreach, and supports media and speechwriting.
“My research degree helped me a lot,” Dr. Shaikh says. “I knew not to believe everything without evidence and it helped me with negotiating resolutions.”
Her favorite work at the UN is the advocacy campaigns where she says she can make a difference with key messages explained in diverse ways via graphics, media excerpts, designing logos, and collaborating with her own team, fellow UN member states and others as they work towards shared global goals. Dr. Shaikh continues to connect academia with experience and is honored to be an FSU alumna, saying “FSU has always been a part of my identity.”