Cheryl L. Nicholas

Cheryl L. Nicholas serves as Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Global Studies at Penn State Berks, teaching intercultural communication, nonverbal communication, storytelling, and communication theory, with specialized courses on LGBTQ identity, comic-book communities, and food culture.

She holds an M.A. (2001) and Ph.D. (2004) in Communication from the University of Oklahoma.

An ethnographer conducting research in Malaysia, her work explores how symbolic activity shapes and is shaped by cultural worldviews, with significant contributions to cultural studies, gender and sexuality, and intercultural communication. Her research has been published in journals including Sexuality and Culture, Communication Quarterly, and Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, as well as book chapters in edited volumes on queer identities and critical race, gender, and sexual orientation studies.

Her teaching excellence has been recognized through multiple awards:

• 2011 Penn State Berks Outstanding Full-Time Teacher Award
• 2015 Penn State Commission on LGBT Equity Award for Outstanding Service
• 2017 National Communication Association Teachers on Teaching series honor
• 2019 Penn State Alumni Teaching Fellow