JENNIFER A. CUMMINGS portrait
  • Associate Professor (Lecturer), Management Department

Education

  • Ph. D., Department of Communication, University of Utah. Project: Relational Communication in Mother-Adolescent Daughter Relationships
  • Conflict Resolution Certification, Communication, University of Utah
  • M. S. , Department of Communication, University of Utah
  • EQ-i 2.0 Emotional Intelligence Assessment Certification, Emotional Intelligence , Multi-Health Systems

Biography

Professor Jennifer Cummings is an Associate Professor, Lecturer in the Department of Management at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. She received an M.A. and Ph.D. degree in Interpersonal and Family Communication from the Department of Communication at the University of Utah, where she taught for 12 years before coming to the Eccles School in 2014. Before returning to graduate school, she worked in social services, most closely with the FACT/Project HOPE program serving higher-need families and schools. 

 

Professor Cummings teaches undergraduate courses in the Department of Management and graduate courses in the Executive MBA, Professional MBA, and Online MBA programs. Her teaching topics include interpersonal communication, conflict management, leading high-performance teams, leadership, public speaking, and positive psychology. She also teaches in the Masters of Business Creation program, helping entrepreneurs more effectively pitch and promote their start-ups. Additionally, Professor Cummings enjoys training and consulting through the DESB Executive Education program and Women in Leadership program where she teaches courses and workshops for organizations, leaders, and professionals who want to continue learning and developing their skills. As a certified conflict mediator and emotional intelligence consultant, she enjoys working with teams and individuals to resolve interpersonal problems and have more productive interactions. 

 

Professor Cummings’ research has been published in Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Southern Communication Journal, and an interactive research methods sourcebook. She is the recipient of multiple teaching awards including the EMBA and PMBA Distinguished Teaching Award, the Brady Faculty Superior Teaching Award, the Faculty Career Mentor Award, and the Daniels Fund Leadership in Ethics Education Award.