BIOGRAPHY
DANIELLE R. MEHLMAN-BRIGHTWELL, PH.D.

Dr. Danielle R. Mehlman-Brightwell is a professor, researcher, speaker, media scholar and consultant from the Pittsburgh region.

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In 2022, Mehlman-Brightwell won an international award of best presenter at the Fifth International Conference on the Future of Women, "Defining Women in a New Decade.” Her research on women's representation began when she was a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned a Ph.D. in communication media and instructional technology from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2021. 

Dr. Mehlman-Brightwell has twelve years of college teaching experience and experience as a director of student media and executive producer. In addition, she has over a decade of experience in marketing, media, and event planning in the restaurant, education, and retail industries.  

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Mehlman-Brightwell has published peer-reviewed work in the Journal of Communication Technology and International Journal of Communication, including book reviews.  Her dissertation published on ProQuest examined the relationship between Facebook users’ dependency, their perceptions of news credibility, and their concern of foreign interference in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Presidential elections. Her research interests span mass communication and political communication by studying the effects of mass media on citizens' communicative activity. Specifically, her research investigates new technologies and their ability to impact societal problems.

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Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Public Policy Communication at University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. There, she teaches argument, interpersonal communication, rhetoric and public policy, and public speaking.

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Formally, she served as the assistant editor for The Journal of Communications Media Studies, director of student media, The Trumpet, co-executive producer of Newsline 14 on Topper Station. She has also taught courses in broadcast news writing, writing for radio & tv, news writing & reporting, broadcast performance, video production: instructional technology, and oral communication.