Erin Brummett, Ph.D.

Dr. Erin A. Brummett joined the Bloomsburg faculty in the fall of 2015. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication Studies from The University of Iowa and her M.A. degree from the University of Delaware. Her area of focus for both graduate programs was Interpersonal Communication.

She currently teaches courses in the Interpersonal Communication area of study in the major, including Interpersonal Communication, Conflict Management and Resolution, a special topics course on Interracial Communication, and a course that she developed for the department curriculum entitled Communicating Identity and Difference. Dr. Brummett has a strong passion for teaching. She is exceedingly dedicated to providing students with the tools necessary to engage with communication theory, practice, and methodology in ways that advance their academic and personal success as students and citizens of the communities in which they take part. 

Dr. Brummett’s research program primarily centers on communication surrounding romantic relationships marked by difference, information and privacy management, and social support processes. She is committed to examining relational contexts as they are situated within social networks and cultural discourses, which are often underrepresented in academic literature and sit outside the realm of normative relational scripts. Most of her current research is tailored toward understanding the communicative practices of interracial romantic partners in order to contribute a discussion to the discipline concerning associations between race, identity, and interpersonal relating. Recent research projects involve analyses of taking a critical interpersonal approach in the classroom to engage students in discussions of difference, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Brummett’s research has appeared in the Journal of Family Communication, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and the Western Journal of Communication. She frequently presents her research at international, national, and regional conferences associated with the International Communication Association (ICA), the National Communication Association (NCA), and the Eastern Communication Association (ECA).

Akin to her passion for teaching and research is her enthusiasm for service. Dr. Brummett serves as the current Director of the Frederick Douglass Social Justice Learning Community for first-year students at Commonwealth University. She is also the current APSCUF Chapter Secretary as well as a member of the APSCUF Social Justice Committee and is an invited guest of the President’s Commission on Diversity and Inclusion, a member of the Frederick Douglass Institute Executive Board, and a member of the High School Diversity Conference Committee. Dr. Brummett’s service to the Department of Communication Studies includes serving as the current faculty advisor to the department’s Lambda Pi Eta Xi Omega honor society chapter and chair of the Curriculum Committee, as well as her membership on several other departmental committees.

Through teaching, research, and service, Dr. Brummett aims to contribute knowledge to the wider community surrounding the importance of communication and celebrating differences in interpersonal and intercultural relations and our everyday lived experiences.