Dominique Brossard
Ph.D. Cornell University
Assistant Professor

Education:
Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie de Toulouse (France):
B.S. Biology, 1985
M.S. Plant Biotechnology 1987

Cornell University:
M.P.S Communication, 1998
Ph.D. in Communication, 2002

Courses:
Principles of strategic communication
Developing creative messages for the media
Risk communication
Science and environmental communication
Research for strategic campaigns

Research areas:
Mass media and public opinion, Media effects, Strategic communication, Science communication, Health communication

Recent publications:

Brossard, D., Kim, E., Scheufele, D.A., & Lewenstein, B.V. (forthcoming). Religiosity as a perceptual filter:
Examining processes of opinion formation about nanotechnology. Public Understanding of Science.

Ho, S. S., Brossard, D., & Scheufele, D. (forthcoming). Effects of value predispositions, mass media and knowledge on public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research. International Journal of Public Opinion Research.

Shih, T., Wijaya, R. & Brossard. D. (forthcoming). Media coverage of epidemic hazards: Linking framing and issue attention cycle towards an integrated theory of print news coverage of epidemic hazards. Mass Communication and Society.

Brossard, D. (in print). The changing roles of science communication media in a controversy. Public Understanding of Science.

Ho, S. S., Brossard, D., & Scheufele, D. A. (2007). The polls—trends: Public reactions to global health risks. Public Opinion Quarterly 71(4), 671-292.

Biography: Dominique Brossard is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also a faculty affiliate of the UW-Madison Robert and Jean Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies. After getting a M.S. in Plant Biotechnology from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agronomie de Toulouse (France), she worked for 5 years for Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in its Change Management Services Division where she led a number of projects aiming at formulating strategic communication plans. She then went to Cornell University where she earned an M.P.S and a Ph.D. in Communication. After her Ph.D., Brossard joined the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II (ABSPII) as Communication Coordinator, a position than combined public relations with marketing communication and strategic communication. The goal of ABSPII (a multimillion dollar project) is to develop bio-engineered products that will ultimately be commercialized in Africa, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines. Brossard’s role was to supervise campaigns favoring the products’ adoption in target countries, to coordinate the marketing communication efforts during the development and delivery of the products and to manage all public relations components related to the project.

Brossard’s research interests broadly focus on the area of strategic communication, more particularly in the context of science and health, as well as on media effects on various forms of participatory behavior. Her dissertation research examined media effects on participatory behavior for decision-making related to controversial science and explored questions such as the following: should more information be provided to the public and if yes by which channels? Do citizens think that public opinion has to be taken into account for controversial scientific issues, or are scientists’ views more important? What is the role of knowledge, trust in different institutions, and media use in promoting participatory behavior? Brossard’s research integrated these questions in a broader framework and tested a model explaining public participation for controversial science that was based on political communication, risk communication, and media effects theories. In other work, Brossard has examined the role religion, communication contexts and mass media, might play in the expression of political participation. Other collaborative work includes the analysis of the impacts of social setting, network heterogeneity and informational variables on political participation. Finally, Brossard’s research in health communication aims to develop theoretical frameworks for the design of campaigns for various health related behaviors, such as smoking or binge drinking.

Brossard has published numerous research articles in outlets such as Mass Communication and Society, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Political Communication, Communication Research, Health Communication, Communication Studies, and Communication Monographs.  Brossard is an editorial board member for the journal  Mass Communication and Society.