Elisia Cohen

Elisia L. Cohen is the Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education, dean of the Graduate School, and John and Elizabeth Cowles Chair in Journalism. As Vice Provost and Dean, professor Cohen is the senior executive leader for the University of Minnesota System responsible for the strategic vision, policy oversight, and administrative stewardship of the University’s research-based graduate, professional, and postdoctoral programs. Reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate and Professional education drive the University’s academic strategy, advancing the quality, reputation, and global stature of more than 550 graduate and professional degree and certificate programs across the University of Minnesota system, including 130 research-based graduate doctoral and master’s degrees. Responsible for guiding strategy for post-baccalaureate graduate and professional education across the University’s five campuses, with a focus on program excellence, student support, and strengthening connections across disciplines. Provide leadership for the University’s postdoctoral community, advancing efforts to support postdoctoral scholars’ professional development and research success. Works closely with collegiate leadership and faculty to advance initiatives that enhance both the academic experience and the broader impact of graduate education.

Dr. Cohen is also the former director of the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.  As the School's executive officer she was responsible for managing the School's undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, research, service and engagement missions. The Hubbard School is the second-largest undergraduate-serving unit in the College of Liberal Arts that is home to three undergraduate majors (journalism, strategic communication, and media and information), two minors (media and information and digital media studies), multiple master's programs (both a professional MA in strategic communication, an academic MA in mass communication), and a PhD program in Mass Communication (and joint MA/PhD & JD in Mass Communication & Law). For her mentoring of graduate students and faculty, she received the 2018 Dale E. Brashers Distinguished Mentor Award from the Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association. At Minnesota, director Cohen supported her unit's expansion of hybrid, online and remote learning activities through expanded summer course offerings, served as chair of the College of Liberal Arts' Council of Chairs as the COVID-19 pandemic began, led a college-wide workgroup on curriculum innovation opportunities (the WCO), developed and implemented a $4.3 million renovation plan of Murphy Hall to enhance its research and instructional facilities, and continues to serve as a representative of the College of Liberal Arts representative to the University's Faculty Senate.  As a researcher, Dr. Cohen partners with medical and behavioral scientists in her research and engagement with the Masonic Cancer Center and Center for Translational Science Institute to enhance the quality of personally-relevant and culturally targeted communication strategies to improve cancer and related health outcomes. She is past treasurer of the International Communication Association, past president of the board for National Scholastic Press Association/Associated Collegiate Press, and board member for a range of local media and non-profit groups in Minnesota.

Biographical Information

Elisia Cohen came to the University of Minnesota from the University of Kentucky, where she held the Gifford Blyton Endowed Professorship and chaired the University of Kentucky's Department of Communication. She was on the faculty at the University of Kentucky for a decade, leading its Health Communication Research Collaborative and engaged as a Member of the Cancer Prevention and Control faculty group of the Markey Cancer Center and faculty affiliate with the Center for Translational Science Institute.  At the University of Kentucky, she was awarded the campus Sarah Bennett Homes Award in recognition of her leadership, research, and service for developing innovative media and community-based outreach strategies to improve women's cancer prevention and detection behaviors in underserved communities. Prior to joining the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information, Dr. Cohen began her career at Saint Louis University in its Department of Communication. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, her Master's degree in communication at Wake Forest University, and her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Louisville. 

Dr. Cohen's research focuses on targeted communication strategies to improve cancer prevention and vaccination update; she has studied how people communicate about cancer prevention and vaccine preventable diseases, studying what knowledge, attitude and practice gaps they have, and how to close these gaps to improve cancer prevention and vaccination outcomes. Her research in communication strategies and interventions is multi-leveled, and contributes to interdisciplinary health communication scholarship. Substantively, she has developed the first-of-its-kind social media-based and video-based interventions to improve cervical cancer prevention and HPV-vaccination. She has innovated methodologies to sampling and large-scale content analytic projects of media. As a nationally-recognize expert in the field of health communication, she has developed and evaluated a range of evidence-based programs to intervene to promote health, change health behavior, and prevent and manage disease. Her research also has focused on communication strategies to improve the reach and effectiveness of health communication messaging in breast, cervical and colorectal cancer prevention efforts to reduce disease burden in poor, rural Appalachia and urban populations. For this work, she was recognized with the American Public Health Association’s 2016 Mayhew Derryberry Award. In recognition of her research and academic leadership contributions to the international field of communication, in 2026, she was one of 16 global communication scholars elected as a Fellow in the International Communication Association.

Her research has been supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and private industry. Her research on media reporting and public understanding of disease has appeared in journals such as: Health Communication, Health Education and Behavior, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Journal of Communication, Journal of Communication in Healthcare, Journal of Health Communication, Qualitative Health Research, and Prometheus. She has edited four volumes of Communication Yearbook.