Molly Anne Wiant Cummins

Dr. Molly Anne Wiant Cummins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. She serves as Course Coordinator for COMS 1301: Fundamentals of Public Speaking. Her research focuses on cultural discourses affecting marginalized groups, employing feminist and critical methodologies. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Southern Illinois University (2014), with prior teaching roles including Lecturer and Adjunct positions before joining UTA in 2018.

Dr. Cummins’ academic journey includes degrees from Saint Cloud State University (BA, 2007) and Southern Illinois University (MA, 2010; PhD, 2014). She has received notable awards, including the COLA Outstanding Teaching Award (2025) and Dean’s AcCoLAde Award (2021). Her teaching spans courses like Communication for Educators and Modern Public Address, emphasizing student-centered learning.

Her research interests bridge communication pedagogy, gender studies, and critical theory. Recent work examines motherhood discourses, pandemic impacts on caregiving, and embodied pedagogy. She actively contributes to academic service, including roles in UTA’s Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies Advisory Board and editorial work for journals like Qualitative Research Reports in Communication.

Dr. Cummins’ publications explore themes such as emotional labor in academia, OER innovation, and autoethnographic reflections on motherhood. She advises undergraduate honors theses and remains engaged in professional development, including mentoring and conference organization.