ROMÂNĂ 
ENGLISH VERSION 
Petra Alina Marinescu - Professor of the Month
Petra Alina Marinescu is Assoc. Senior Lecturer at the School of Communication and International Relations, “Danubius” University of Galați, also working as Consultant for the PR&MEDIA Department. Formerly, she was Senior Lecturer at the same institution. Petra holds a Ph.D. in Sociology, from the University of Bucharest, and a master’s degree in Social Research from the same institution, both programs being taught in English. Petra also studied abroad on various occasions (Westminster University, University of Graz, Aarhus University, University of Loughborough).
Petra told us that she is mainly interested in studying the issue of organizational burnout from a discursive perspective, employee engagement and disengagement, as also decisional processes. She also explained that she is fond of media manipulation, not only for having graduated Journalism, but because of the intricacies of the topic.
About her former professional preoccupations, the Senior Lecturer recollected: “Shortly after graduation, I developed a carrier in corporate marketing and communication working as PR Manager and Corporate Affairs Manager for one of the most important media holdings in Romania. I managed the market launching of various newspapers and magazines, but also the opening of editorial offices in Bruxelles and Chișinău”.
Petra confesses that, since 2011, she pursued her real vocation, that of teaching and entered the Academia where she engaged in challenging research endeavors. Her first book, The Discursive Dimension of Employee Engagement and Disengagement. Accounts of Keeping and Leaving Jobs in Present-Day Bucharest Organizations (2017, Peter Lang Publishing), is aimed at helping employers, employees and coaching practitioners deal with organizational disengagement and its unwanted consequences at an organizational and at individual level. Her second book, Manipulation in the Disclosure of the <<Securitate>> Files (2021, Peter Lang Publishing) presents the reader with an applied analysis of how the concepts of information and manipulation were illustrated in the Romanian press when the “Securitate” files were revealed, based on the case of Mona Muscă, a controversial topic that was widely debated by most dailies at the time. The analyzed press segment revealed the predilection for a speech condemning Mona Muscă. The message received by the target audience was not a balanced, objective one, but one that contradicts the deontology of the journalistic profession.
Moreover, Petra published extensively, both in national and foreign journals, and participated in a large number of international conferences.
She is also certified as professional trainer, project manager, corporate manager and team performance manager.
Petra applauds the Danubian family for all the challenging endeavors and great projects but, above all, for the extraordinary people: management, faculty and students, and feels really proud to have been part of their well-known accomplishments.
