Dominique Brossard (born November 3, 1963) is a professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is an affiliate of the university's Robert & Jean Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies and other institutes at the university, including the Energy Institute, the Global Health Institute, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Brossard also holds a position as a principal investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research. She served as the chair of the Department of Life Sciences Communication for over a decade before stepping down in amid a university misconduct investigation into departmental faculty.
In her academic work, Brossard focuses on the interactions between science, media, and public policy. She leads SciLab (Science Communication Incubator Lab) at the Morgridge Research Institute which investigates the dynamics of scientific discussion in online platforms and its implications for public engagement and discourse.
Prior to her academic appointments, Brossard was employed at Accenture in its Change Management Services Division and coordinated communication for the Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project II. She received her M.S. in plant biotechnology from the Ecole Nationale d’Agronomie de Toulouse and her M.P.S and Ph.D. in communication from Cornell University.
Investigation at UW-Madison According to the Capital Times, a September 2025 university investigative report examined Brossard’s response to concerns about professor Dietram Scheufele. The report stated that a graduate researcher had informed her in early 2024 of alleged undisclosed relationships between Scheufele and students. Investigators found no evidence that she had reported those concerns to university compliance officials. Brossard told investigators that she had questioned Scheufele directly and noted that the employee who raised the concerns was leaving the university.
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