Crystal Chokshi, PhD

Assistant Professor, Public Relations

Crystal joined the School of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University in July 2022. She holds a BA (English) from the University of Ottawa, an MA (English) from Simon Fraser University, and a PhD (Communication and Media Studies) from the University of Calgary, where she was a SSHRC doctoral fellow and Killam scholar.

As an instructor, Crystal’s goal is to help students develop a critical consciousness in their everyday work as communicators. She brings critical media studies into the study of public relations, emphasizing, especially, critical perspectives on technologies.

Crystal’s work is published in The Canadian Journal of Communication, Surveillance & Society, Culture Machine, Real Life, and The Conversation Canada. She is currently co-editing a book called The Need to Rename Tech. It explores words that fool us into thinking the digital technologies we use every day are beautiful, benign, and consequence-free. 

In Winter 2025, Crystal will teach "Computer-Mediated Communication” and “Writing & AI in PR,” both designed to support students in thinking through digital technologies’ hidden consequences. 

Crystal layers her academic practice on top of a 15-year career in strategic communication, which has spanned the public, private, and voluntary sectors.