Rebekah Bromley
Associate Professor
Dr. Bromley had careers in journalism and public relations before becoming an academic.
In the far elsewhere she was once a rookie reporter for The Chattanooga Times and an editor and publisher for a weekly newspaper, The Gainesville (Ga.) Tribune. In the near elsewhere she worked weekends as a copy editor in the sports department of The Chattanooga Times Free Press.
As a public relations practitioner, Bromley was an editor for The University of Tennessee at Knoxville public relations department and did freelance work for the Tennessee Press Association. The rest of her public relations career was with the Tennessee Valley Authority where she served as an editor in the power information office, a specialist with the electrical demonstration department (ask her about writing heat pump ads for two years) and as a communication manager within the division of conservation.
A baby boomer, Bromley got her undergraduate journalism degree in 1968, worked a bit, had a daughter, and returned to higher education in 1976 for her master’s in communication. Her last degree, a Ph.D. in Communications, from UTK came in 1992, and from there she went to Virginia Tech as an assistant professor in the Department of Communications. Leaving her Hokie days behind in 1998, Bromley jumped at the chance to become a member of the UTC communication faculty. Chattanooga was home, the department was nationally accredited and the Mocs ruled.
As an associate professor in the department, Bromley teaches public relations courses, persuasive writing and communication law. She advises The Echo and Public Relations Student Society of America. Her research focus is at the junction of traditional media, law and new technology. Of late she is trying her hand at fiction where she is once again a rookie learning a lot.
