Jay M. Bernhardt

Jay M. Bernhardt is a health communication scholar, public health leader, professor and college administrator. Bernhardt has served as the dean of the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin since March 2016. He was reappointed as dean effective Sept. 1, 2022 and will serve another six years. At UT Austin, he was the founding director of the Center for Health Communication in 2015. He serves on multiple boards of directors and is the founder of national nonprofit organizations including the Alliance of Schools and Colleges of Communication and Journalism and the Society for Health Communication.

Bernhardt became the sixth dean of the Moody College of Communication on March 1, 2016. Moody College is one of the largest and most comprehensive colleges of communication in the country with seven majors and nearly 5,000 students. Bernhardt's tenure has led to the development of many new programs including a four-year honors program, B.A. degree in communication and leadership and a “study away” program in New York City known as UTNY. He increased graduate student funding and the four-year graduation rate to 80 percent, among the highest on campus. He's recruited more than 50 new faculty members and established new research centers, institutes and programs. He's also prioritized issues of diversity, equity and inclusion and established the college’s first associate dean position with this portfolio.

Bernhardt began his academic career as an assistant professor in the School of Health and Human Performance at the University of Georgia in 1999 before joining the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in 2001. From 2005-10, Bernhardt worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he directed the National Center for Health Marketing, overseeing and advancing the agency’s communication, marketing, partnerships, and new media innovations. In 2010, he joined the School of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida, where he served as department chair, professor and center director. He joined UT Austin in July 2014 as professor, established the Center for Health Communication and was named interim dean in 2015.