Judith Trent, a former debater and collegiate Debate Coach is a lifelong college educator in the area of communication, and currently is a Professor of Communication at the University of Cincinnati. Her research and teaching interests are primarily in political communication with a strong focus in communication in presidential campaigns and the campaign strategies and presentational styles of women in elective politics. Dr. Trent began her career as a High School debate coach in Michigan.

From these early days she moved forward to achieve national recognition as a teacher and writer in communication. Dr. Trent attracted the attention of her colleagues in the field and was elected to senior positions in several regional and national communication associations. Specifically, she is a past president of the National Communication Association and held similar positions in several regional and local communication groups.

She is also a prodigious writer, authoring, co-authoring, or as an editor of 27 books and book chapters, 40 academic journal articles, and more than 200 presentations published in communication journals or presented at state, regional, national and international communication conferences.

The seventh edition of Political Campaign Communication: Principles and Practices with co-authors Robert Friedenberg and Robert Denton, Jr. was published in 2011. Recent editorial board service includes Communication Education, Communication Quarterly, Communication Studies, Qualitative Research Reports and Political Communication.

A frequent media commentator during the 1992 through 2008 presidential campaigns, Dr. Trent appeared more than 60 times as a political communication analyst for the ABC, NBC, and CBS television affiliates in Cincinnati, numerous times on radio, and has had her research cited in various newspapers in Ohio and elsewhere, including the The New York Times and The Washington Post. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from University of Michigan and a B.S. from Western Michigan University.