Betsy Emmons has a background in public relations, including sports PR and promotion, so this role is a great fit for her experience. She teaches sports media and PR courses. For many years, she's seen the great work of the sports communication and PR programs at UNL and is excited to be a part of it.

Emmons' two main research interests are in sports media and PR. Sports fandom, media production, PR and storytelling are constantly evolving and learning more about how sports storytelling helps shape our relationship with sports is fascinating. PR is also constantly evolving as media and stakeholder habits shift, so Emmons also enjoys researching how the PR profession and academic major are shifting to accommodate change.

Most recently, Emmons was an associate professor in the Communication and Media department at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Working with students to discover their passions in media and PR is rewarding. It's an exciting career path with so many possibilities. She has earned advising and mentorship awards, including the Howard College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Advising Award in 2024, the Alabama PRSA Outstanding Educator Award in 2023, the Alabama PRSA Ron Council PR Mentorship Award in 2016 and the Outstanding Scholar Award for the Samford Professional Studies program in 2023. 

For research, Emmons has been thankful to collaborate with other scholars and submit to academic conferences and journals. Some of these have become top paper awards at research conferences, such as the top paper in sports communication at the International Communication Association conference in 2022 and the top paper award in the PR teaching research competition at AEJMC in 2020.

Emmons holds a Ph.D. in communication and information sciences from the University of Alabama, a master's in higher education law and compliance from Samford University, a master's degree in communication studies from the University of Nevada and a bachelor's degree in English from James Madison University. 

Emmons finds a reason to go outside most days, so she usually goes to walking trails, hikes, bikes, or parks to explore. She has lived in warmer climates for so long that she will do her best to embrace cold weather, and she thinks that will be her biggest adjustment to life in Lincoln. She also likes to watch and play sports. Traveling brings her joy, especially to new places. Her most recent trip was leading a study abroad group to Japan, and she can't wait to visit Asia again soon.