Leah Bryant is an associate professor in the department of Communication Studies. She earned BA degrees in speech communication and psychology and an MA in speech communication from Southwest Texas State University. She received her PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in communication studies.
Her research examines communication challenges in relational contexts and her projects include communication in bereaved families, stepfamily communication, sibling communication, privacy and disclosure in close relationships, and instructional communication strategies affecting teacher-student relationships.
Bryant teaches courses on the Dark Side of Personal Relationships, Family Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Introduction to Human Communication. She was recently awarded the National Communication Association Teachers on Teaching Award. She has been nominated multiple times for the Excellence in Teaching Award at DePaul.
She serves on numerous editorial boards and has published research various journals, including the
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,
Journal of Family Communication,
Communication Studies,
Communication Quarterly, and
Communication Research Reports.
Bryant is a committed member of the DePaul community, for example serving as advisor for Lambda Pi Eta (the Communication Studies honor society) and coordinator of the Relational Communication program; as well as within her academic discipline where she has served in executive leadership roles at the international, national, and regional levels – for example, immediate past president of the Central States Communication Association, director of finance for the International Association for Relationship Research, and convention host and/or planner for each of the aforementioned associations.
Within the community, Leah volunteers her time as an adoption counselor at PAWS Animal Shelter, as a Presidential Leadership Council member of the Field Museum, at the Old Town School of Folk Music, and the Peterson Garden Project.
Leah is the faculty advisor for DePaul University's Lambda Pi Eta (LPH) chapter. For more information on LPH, visit our chapter's
webpage.