Dr. Abby Cole

Director of Communications

Abby Cole is the director of communications for the Texas Talent Accelerator. She specializes in media and communication technologies with additional expertise in journalism, documentary studies, and science and technology studies. She has over two decades of communications experience, including her professional background in marketing, public relations, and advertising. In these roles, she developed and implemented communications and social media strategies, built brand identities, designed strategic content, planned events, and cultivated media relations. Dr. Cole also served as the newsroom director at Plano East Senior High School for 15 years, where she was also the Career and Technical Education Department Chair and was awarded Teacher of the Year in 2016. She has nine years of experience teaching higher education communications courses at institutions such as the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Cole received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of North Texas in 2004, her Master of Journalism Education from the University of Missouri in 2013, and her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Texas at Dallas in May 2026. She has presented her interdisciplinary research — which examines the social, political, technical, and cultural contexts of media and technology’s influence on shaping narratives and audience behaviors — at local and national conferences. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has an upcoming co-authored book chapter that draws on the ethical and environmental implications of AI and the media in mass communication industries. Dr. Cole serves on committees for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the National Communication Association.