Education

2009 Western Kentucky University, B.A.
2012 Western Kentucky University, MAE
2022 West Virginia University, Ph.D.

Courses Taught

Speech for Business and the Professions
Small Group Communication
Interpersonal Communication 

Career Specialties

Sara Pitts' entire career has centered around serving college students to ensure they have the resources they need to be successful. Her career started as an academic advisor, and she transitioned to researching how those academic advising relationships, in collaboration with effective teaching behaviors, can support student learning. 

Professional and Community Activities

Pitts is a communication scholar, educator and mentor whose teaching and research center on creating meaningful learning experiences through positive and supportive communication. Her scholarship spans instructional, interpersonal and organizational communication, with publications on positive communication, effective teaching and advising, student-faculty communication, public speaking pedagogy, workplace relationships and communication in higher education. She has also contributed pedagogical scholarship on using gameplay to teach communication research methods and has presented conference panels on stimulating student interest and engagement and assessing student learning. 

Beyond her research, Pitts is committed to experiential education, including designing and implementing a service-learning course focused on servant leadership that encouraged students to connect classroom learning with meaningful community engagement. She extends this commitment beyond the classroom through volunteer service with Take Stock in Children in the Tampa area, supporting middle and high school students as they pursue educational and personal success.

Honors and Awards

She received the Teaching and Campus Leadership Award in 2025 at her previous institution - given to one faculty member per year who has shown commitment to student mentoring and leadership on campus.