Joe Cutbirth is assistant professor of instruction in the Communication Studies Department and in the Communication and Leadership Degree Program. His teaching and research focus on the social practice of leadership in public life and in interpersonal relationships. He also teaches and supervises student work in the Ethics and Leadership concentration of the UT Bridging Disciplines Program. 

Dr. Cutbirth holds a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School executive program in Public Leadership. He was selected for the 2024 cohort of the UT Provost Teaching Fellows program. He was a founding faculty member of the UT Center for Ethical Leadership in Media and serves on its curriculum advisory board. His work has been published in Ethnography Matters, Media Ethics, and The Handbook of Intellectual Freedom. He has taught at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, New York University, Manhattan College, University of Virginia, University of British Columbia, and University of Houston.

He holds a Ph.D. in communications from Columbia University, an M.A. in communication, culture and technology from Georgetown University, and a B.J. in public relations from the University of Texas at Austin.