Carrie La Ferle to Give 2026 Jerome Williams Lecture on "Cultural Intelligence"
This year’s Jerome Williams speaker will be Carrie La Ferle, a professor of ethics and culture at the Temerlin Advertising Institute at Southern Methodist University and an expert in ethics and cultural understanding in advertising.
La Ferle’s lecture, “Cultural Intelligence for Effective Communication,” will take place March 31 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Dealy Center for New Media (DMC), Room 1.202. The event is free and open to the public.
The annual lecture honors the legacy of Jerome Williams, who served from 2003-2010 as the F.J. Heyne Centennial Professor in Communication in the Department of Advertising and Center for African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Williams was widely recognized as a pioneering scholar in multicultural consumer behavior and a generous mentor to students and colleagues. Following his time at Texas, Williams joined the Rutgers Business School, later serving as provost and executive vice chancellor of Rutgers University Newark from 2015 to 2021. The lecture was established following Williams’ death in 2021.
La Ferle’s scholarship closely aligns with Williams’ enduring influence on the field. With a doctorate in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin, she is an expert in the study of trust and authentic long-term relationships between brands, their consumers and society through cultural understanding and ethical behavior. She has more than 60 publications in journals such as the Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research, International Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Research.
La Ferle has received multiple awards for her teaching, research and service. At SMU, she is the recipient of the President’s Associates Outstanding Faculty Award (2009), the Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor Award (2012), the Golden Apple from Meadows School of the Arts (2018) and Research Scholar of the Year from the Temerline Advertising Institute (2019). In 2018, La Ferle was chosen as an American Advertising Federation Shining Star, recognizing women who have positively impacted the Dallas advertising industry. In 2021, she co-authored Preaching and the Thirty-Second Commercial: Lessons from Advertising for the Pulpit and was recognized by the American Academy of Advertising with the Rotzoll Career Award for Advertising Ethics and Social Responsibility.
The Jerome Williams Lecture serves as the school’s only annual named lecture, bringing in prominent scholars or professionals for a public address and classroom visits. In addition to her lecture, La Ferle will engage with students and faculty in graduate seminars and undergraduate classes, offering insights into academic research, teaching and the evolving role of ethics in advertising and public relations.
The annual Jerome Williams Lecture reflects the school’s commitment to advancing scholarship and dialogue around culture, ethics and responsibility in advertising and public relations.
