Lynn Gibbard is a professor in the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University who teaches intercultural communication, media and society/media studies, strategic communication, and more. Her professional work includes applied research in military veteran transition and grant projects that support transition to higher education and sustainable farming. She began her academic life as a high-school English teacher and then pursued her MA in applied linguistics/TEFL. Lynn taught at the American University of Armenia for three years in TEFL and TEFL teacher education. She shifted her focus to communication education and intercultural communication, earning her PhD at the University of Miami. In 2005, she developed the public-communication major at the University of Vermont and had the opportunity to work with extension agents and rural farmers. While there, she also developed an intercultural-communication study-abroad course to Belize. In 2009, Lynn began her tenure at Appalachian State University, a former rural teachers college. She continued to take students to Belize and to develop applied educational opportunities for students pursuing vocations across a wide range of communication and communication-related fields. To this day, intercultural communication and understanding are at the heart of her teaching and practice.