With an undergraduate degree in communication, Cyphert began a career in public relations and advertising, moving on to an M.A. in Rhetoric at the University of California, specializing in corporate advocacy. After fifteen years in management and consulting experience, she resumed an academic career with a PhD in the highly-regarded Speech Communication program at Penn State. Specializing in cross-cultural rhetorical theory, Cyphert's research focuses primarily on variations in decision-making norms across socio-economic levels.  Current projects include the definition and development of communication competence in business organizations, methods of improving team communication behaviors, and corporate citizenship discourse.

Cyphert currently teaches in the Department of Management, offering courses in organizational management, business communication, communication management and MBA courses in a variety of communication topics. She frequently offers short courses to business clients through UNI's Executive Development Center.

Cyphert is a member of the National Communication Association, and serves on the Boards of both the Association for Business Communication  and the American Communication Association. Cyphert's publications include articles in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Text and Performance Quarterly, The American Communication Journal , and The Western Journal of Communication, as well as ERIC documents, instructional supplements for South-Western College Publishing, and various business magazines. She has presented more than thirty papers at regional and national conventions as well as programs for media and community audiences, and chapters in such works as Who Says?: Working-Class Rhetoric, Class Consciousness, and Community and Included in Communication: Learning Climates that Cultivate Racial and Ethnic Diversity.  (Click for current resume)