Leggette: A scholar of science communications. A teacher of writing. A lover of the written word. A creator of stories. 

Dr. Leggette joined the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications in 2014 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2020. She has more than 15 years of experience as a scholar, researcher, and practitioner. 

Dr. Leggette’s research focuses on public engagement in science with a narrowed focus on investigating effective methods for training scientists to communicate with and engage their publics and applying those effective methods to designing and delivering science communication training programs. She also conducts audience analyses to build audience profiles of science constituents and publics to provide scientists with action-based research outcomes they can use to design and develop research projects, educational programs, and production tools. She has 50 journal publications (as well as numerous abstracts, scientific reports, and conferences presentations) and has served as a PI or Co-PI of ~$69 million in extramurally funded projects. 

Dr. Leggette is an expert in designing and delivering evidence-based science communications training programs and conducting action-based research. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in media writing, research writing, and public engagement. She earned the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Vice Chancellor’s Award of Excellence for Early Career Research in 2019 and the NACTA Educator Award in 2018. In 2021, her research team won the NACTA Bob Gough Teaching Tip Award for their 2017 USDA-funded Higher Education Challenge project. In 2024, she won the Western Region American Association for Agricultural Education Outstanding Researcher Award and the Distinguished Agricultural Communications Educator Award.

In 2017, Dr. Leggette started the Science Communications Lab with Dr. Theresa Murphrey, and she currently serves as the Lab’s Co-Director. Dr. Leggette is also the Managing Editor for the Journal of Applied Communications, the Director for the widely-known USDA Science Influencers program, and an Affiliate Member of Texas A&M University System’s Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture.