Melissa BoehmDr. Melissa Boehm

Assistant Professor, Communication and Theatre, CAS

An outstanding teacher with breadth of expertise, energy, and enthusiasm as an instructor, she is revered by students as “an excellent instructor, adviser, and project coach.”

Dr. Melissa Boehm is this year’s Winston and Helen Cox Fellowship Award recipient, a well-deserved honor for this promising and inspiring scholar.

An Assistant Professor since 2014, Dr. Boehm is a versatile faculty member of the Communication and Theatre Department. The ability to teach a wide variety of subject material, incorporate service learning, and embrace online teaching demonstrate her essential value and wide skillset that she brings to the department and university.

Her service to the University is impressive. Last year, she advised 28 students and was the faculty mentor for over 30 student presentations in the Research, Creativity, and Community Involvement Conference.

Dr. Boehm has fulfilled active roles on and off campus by: serving as a Fake News panelist in January 2017 at the Billings Public Library and as a Table Host for their annual fundraiser in June 2017; providing media literacy workshops for Park City High School students in May 2017; volunteering each summer for Night on the Van with the Salvation Army; serving on the Friends of Yellowstone Public Radio board; acting as a judge for the Model United Nations in May 2017; and chairing the Women’s Faculty Caucus.

She maintains a strong record of publication, alongside her vast service to the university and community, and teaching roles. One of her recent publications, “The Framing of Health and Poverty in Appalachia” was voted one of two Top Papers at the Association for Marketing and Health Care Research annual conference in 2017. Dr. Boehm has published a book chapter, presented at nine conferences, and has been a repeat presenter for Library Lecture Series.

Embracing technology is a strong theme of Dr. Boehm’s teaching and service. Outside of teaching students, she gave the Board of Regents a demonstration of the TEIL room in Fall 2017, and has received e-Learning and professional development grants.

Dr. Boehm is hailed by colleagues as a “most valuable colleague who should be honored with a Cox Fellowship Award. The University can be proud of her accomplishments and acknowledge the actualization of her potential as revealed in her stellar performance.”