Melissa Boehm

Dr. Melissa Boehm

Associate Professor, Communication, CLASS

Dr. Melissa Boehm is a dedicated professor who teaches Media Studies and General Education courses in the Department of Communication. A former smalltown newspaper reporter, public relations specialist, and corporate trainer, she cares deeply about preparing students for success during their time at MSUB and after they graduate. To reach students where they are, she offers her courses in an array of modalities such as in-person, online, hybrid, and HyFlex.

Boehm is a beloved professor amongst her students and was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award twice by ASMSUB. She is currently working to create a shareable course shell for colleagues to use for the popular Introduction to Public Speaking course. By anchoring the online course with an Open Educational Resource (free textbook), she helps make the course accessible to all students from the start of the semester.

Boehm co-chairs the MSUB Women’s Faculty Caucus which provides support to faculty who identify as women and meets monthly to discuss issues that impact women faculty. She also serves on Academic Senate and the Sabbatical Committee, chairs the Department of Communication DRTC, and has served on several DRTCs as an outside member.

In the Billings community, Boehm serves as a board member for the Friends of Yellowstone Public Radio and volunteers her time serving campus and the community in various roles. In Fall 2022, she presented at two peer-reviewed conferences; one project interrogated the concept of hegemonic femininities on Netflix’s Maid, while the other focused on HyFlex teaching. She has served as a peer-reviewer for multiple journals and is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Boehm shares that she chose to teach at MSUB because she personally knows the life-changing potential of higher education for first-generation students.

Boehm’s community engagement, student-first focus, and academic work makes her a well-deserving recipient of a Faculty Excellence Award. One of her nominators adds, “Dr. Boehm has been invaluable to me and helped me navigate the rigors of being a new faculty member. She is a tremendous asset to MSUB, our students and to me personally.”