Dr. Brian Richardson

Personal Bio

Dr. Brian Richardson (Dr. R.) and his wife Cheryl have two children: Keith, who graduated from Baylor University (B.B.A., M.B.A., Accounting), and Ella Kate who graduated from Southeast Missouri State University (B.A., Musical Theatre & Dance). Dr. R. enjoys working out, cycling, fantasy football, reading, and traveling. He also conducts communication-related training for various organizations, including the Texas Fire Chiefs Association, City of Forth Worth IT Division, Texas Department of Health and Human Services, UNT Health Science Center, and the UNT System. Dr. Richardson has co-led Study Abroad courses to Spain/Portugal, Peru, Panama, and Nicaragua.

Research Interests

Dr. Richardson's primary research interests include organizational whistleblowing, communication and sport, and disaster/crisis communication. He has published articles recently addressing what whistleblowers’ metaphors reveal about their experiences and school district communication officers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He is currently working on several projects; these include studies of communicative tensions within families of whistleblowers, how elite baseball players make sense of injury recovery, and understanding whistleblower’s motivations as revealed in their life narratives.

Notable Activities

• Faculty Advisor for COMM Future Pros
• Faculty Advisor for COMM Alumni Mentoring Program
• Editorial Board Member - Management Communication Quarterly

Recent Publications:

Dayton, Z., & Richardson, B. K. (2026-online). If reporting severe hazing, it’s best to be a … newcomer?: Hazing severity and organizational tenure as determinants for supporting sorority whistleblowers. Western Journal of Communication.

McGlynn, J., Tran, J., & Richardson, B. K. (2026). Whistleblowing: Mental health risks of exposing organizational wrongdoing. In E. M. Glowacki’s  (Ed.) Mental Health Case Studies. Kendall Hunt. (Invited)

Cosgrove, S., & Richardson, B. K. (2026). “I was the punching bag for keyboard warriors”: Examining stakeholder social undermining tactics and their effects on occupational identity. Management Communication Quarterly, 40(2). 280-309. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189251376573 

McGlynn, J., Richardson, B. K., & Tran, J. (2025). "In the Grip of King Kong": Making Sense of Whistleblower Retaliation Experiences Through Metaphor. Journal of Business Ethics, 202, 601-705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-025-05987-x

Richardson, B., K., Tran, J., & James, E. P. (2025). Using whistleblowers’ metaphors to understand why organizational wrongdoing endures. Management Communication Quarterly, 39(4), 638-654. https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189251322153

Teaching

• COMM 3320 - Conflict Management
• COMM 4120 - Communication & Sport
• COMM 4220 - Theories of Crisis Communication
• COMM 5220 - Organizational Communication
• COMM 5221 - Crisis and Disaster Communication
• COMM 5625 - Communication Consulting

Awards & Honors

• Recipient, 2026, Community Engagement Award, University of North Texas.
• Recipient, 2025 Diamond Anniversary Award for Top Paper. Central States Communication Association’s Organizational and Professional Communication Interest Group. (co-authors Joseph McGlynn and Jacinta Tran)
• Recipient, 2023, Ulys and Vera Knight Faculty Mentor Award, University of North Texas.
• Recipient, 2022, CLASS Advisory Board Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, UNT's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.