Cynthia Simmons

Cynthia Simmons is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Department of Journalism within the Bellisario College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University. She specializes in mass media law and has held prior roles as a journalist and educator, including directing the Olympia Legislative Reporting Internship Program at the University of Washington.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor's degree from Macalester College, a Master's from the University of Wisconsin, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Washington. Simmons' research focuses on the intersection of media law, jury systems, and societal impacts of mass incarceration. She has published works such as the 2021 novel Wrong Kind of Paper, which critiques media conglomeration and systemic racism, and the 2010 academic text The Jury and Democracy, translated into Japanese.

Simmons has received the New Mexico Associated Press Public Service Journalism Award for her political reporting. Her current projects explore how journalists and citizens can address systemic issues in criminal justice through civic engagement. She previously worked as a news director at WORT radio in Madison, Wisconsin, and covered the Wisconsin Legislature for United Press International.