"You have to get to know your students as individuals—get to know their minds, I mean—and you have to believe completely… in each one’s absolute uniqueness. …a genuine teacher teaches students, not courses."

—William Deresiewicz 

Brandon Szuminsky is a Senior Manager, Internal Communications at UPMC. Previously, he was an assistant professor of journalism in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Baldwin Wallace University, where he taught journalism, communications, and public relations courses and was the faculty advisor to the award-winning student newspaper, The Exponent. He was nominated for both the Student Senate Faculty Excellence Award and Student Organization Advisor of the Year following his first year at Baldwin Wallace. He was also a 2018 Fellow at the Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute at Arizona State University's Cronkite School of Journalism. 
Szuminsky earned a doctorate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Communications Media and Instructional Technology, with dissertation research on the sourcing practices of Pennsylvania journalists covering the Marcellus shale natural gas industry in the state. He also earned a master’s of business administration and Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Electronic Media from Waynesburg University. Szuminsky has presented and published research on framing and bias in front page newspaper coverage of controversial Supreme Court rulings, media framing and sourcing, and the transmission of hoaxes and misinformation on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Before joining Baldwin Wallace, Szuminsky was an instructor of communication at Waynesburg University for nine years, where he guided student journalists at The Yellow Jacket to more than three dozen regional, state and national journalism awards, including the best non-daily student newspaper award from the Society of Professional Journalist Region 4 and a national award from SPJ for in-depth reporting of the opioid crisis in southwestern Pennsylvania. He also advised the student SPJ chapter and led university service trips to Patzun, Guatemala, and to Concord, N.C., with Habitat for Humanity. He received the Lucas D. Hathaway Award for Teaching Excellence from Waynesburg University in 2012.
Prior to joining academia, Szuminsky was an editor and columnist for the Uniontown Herald-Standard, a daily newspaper in Fayette County, Pa., where he ran writers for the health and entertainment sections and wrote a weekly column (and gave the best darn ever commencement address that nobody asked for). Before that, Szuminsky was a copy editor at Black Box Network Services, a provider of communications and infrastructure solutions with 175,000 customers worldwide. He has also worked as a copy editor and reporter for the Herald-Standard and the Greene County Messenger in Waynesburg, Pa.
You can find him at twitter  or linkedin.

A student's response to the internship essay prompt: 'Discuss someone who has influenced you greatly'
 
"Dr. Brandon Szuminsky’s office was cramped, hardly wider than the average closet. It felt even smaller with the amount of books crowded inside—in haphazard stacks on his desk, lopsided rows on the bookshelf, crammed under the chair where I sat.
I waited patiently as my professor analyzed my article. His nose was inches from the page, and with a blue ink pen, he marked it pedantically in his illegible scrawl.
I would be here, in this office, every week for nearly two years. I would make appointments for us to edit my articles together—but most days, I would just invite myself in. I’d drop my heavy pack into the corner and throw myself into the only extra chair with a deep sigh; and we’d talk about the student newspaper. Or about life.
Brandon had a passion for journalism that was infectious; and under his wing, I developed the same zeal. Every article became an intricate project – every word choice, sentence structure, source quote was intentional. He dedicated so much time to me—hours of proofreading and editing, looking at examples and brainstorming new reporting projects. He lauded the greater purpose of journalism. His fervor was intoxicating, and he gave me ambition.
Nowadays, that office is unrecognizable. The cinderblock walls are mostly bare, and there are no bookshelves. Everything is tidy and devoid of character. A new professor has taken his place, but she doesn’t invite me in for coffee and snacks the way he used to. She doesn’t recommend new books to me. She doesn’t geek out about Eli Saslow’s latest article with me.
When Brandon told me he was leaving Waynesburg to start a new life at Baldwin Wallace University in Cleveland, I felt myself shrink. He had helped me author award-winning articles, perfect my page layout and become a meticulous editor. I thought I was losing a professor, an advisor and a friend.
I wasn’t. Because, even from three and a half hours away, Brandon is texting me story ideas. He reads every important article I write, and every internship application—except this one. I have traded daily office visits for weekly phone calls, but he is still a part of my life. He is still my friend. He is still the most superb mentor that I could have asked for."