Biographical sketches

Jordan Atkinson is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, where he has instructed courses in interpersonal, small group, organizational, and contemporary communication. His research is currently focused on the intersections of family and instructional communication, particularly the family socialization and parenting of college students. Jordan’s research has been published in Communication Education and Communication Teacher.

Theodore A. Avtgis is Professor and Director of the School of Communication at the University of Akron, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in aggressive, health, risk, and crisis communication. He has authored more than ten books, and his research appears in scholarly journals at the regional, national, and international levels. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of Communication Research Reports.

Phil Backlund is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Central Washington University, where he joined the faculty in 1979. He teaches courses such as public speaking, communication behavior analysis, intercultural communication, gender communication, relationship development, and persuasion. He and his wife travel extensively and have taught in Hong Kong, Macau, Pakistan, and South Sudan. He has published in areas of communication education, assessment, culture, and gender communication.

Steven A. Beebe is Regents’ and University Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies at Texas State University. He is the author and co-author of 12 books (with most books in multiple editions) and numerous articles about communication focusing on communication skill development. He has been a visiting scholar at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge and served as President of the National Communication Association.

Karla Mason Bergen (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006) is an Associate Professor of Communication at the College of Saint Mary, where she is Program Director of Communication, Director of General Education, and Coordinator of Women’s Studies. She teaches courses such as interpersonal, family, and gender communication, as well as oral communication skills. Her research centers on how women communicatively construct and negotiate unconventional personal, marital, and professional relationships. Her work has been published in leading communication journals, as well as several edited volumes.

Melanie Booth-Butterfield is Professor Emerita in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University. She has published over 100 research articles and chapters in major communication journals, and she is a Distinguished Research Fellow and Distinguished Teaching Fellow of the Eastern Communication Association. She is the former editor of Communication Education, Communication Quarterly, and Communication Research Reports.

Benjamin Brummernhenrich is a researcher at the Institute of Psychology for Education, University of Muenster, Germany. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology in 2014. His research examines the interplay of social processes and content in instructional communication. In his teaching, he focuses on teacher education, especially the topics of cooperative learning and research methods

Jacob L. Cayanus (Ed.D., West Virginia University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Oakland University. He teaches undergraduate courses in communication theory, interpersonal communication, and persuasion, as well as graduate courses in quantitative research methods, interpersonal communication, and nonverbal communication. His work has been published in several academic journals including Communication Teacher, Communication Research Reports, Communication Quarterly, Personality and Individual Differences, and College Students: Stress, Depression and Mental Health.

Deanna L. Fassett is Professor of Communication Pedagogy at San José State University, where she serves as Department Chair and supervises her department's graduate teaching associates. Dr. Fassett co-authored Critical Communication Pedagogy and co-edited The SAGE Handbook of Communication and Instruction. She is currently editor of the National Communication Association journal Communication Teacher.

Amber N. Finn is an associate professor in the Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University, where she teaches courses in public speaking, training and development, and communication in the workplace. Her research has focused on the impact of teacher communication behaviors on instructional outcomes and has appeared in leading scholarly journals, such as Communication Education and Communication Quarterly.

Kory Floyd is a professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. His work focuses on the communication of affection in close relationships and on the interplay between affection, physiology, and health. He has authored 15 books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and is the immediate past Editor-in-Chief of Communication Monographs.

Seth S. Frei is a lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University. He teaches various courses in organizational, interpersonal, and instructional communication. His research has appeared in various communication journals and focuses on the use and development of communication skills in the professional context.

Ann Bainbridge Frymier is Associate Dean of the Graduate School and a professor in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Miami University, where she teaches persuasion, research methods, and a variety of other courses. Her research focuses on instructional communication, specifically the role of teacher-studentrelationships in learning, humor, and student engagement. Her work has been widely cited and appears in journals such as Communication Education and Communication Quarterly.

Zachary W. Goldman is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Illinois College. He obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. from West Virginia University. His research, which focuses on the intersections of communication, motivation, and learning in professional and educational contexts, has been published in national and regional journals in the field of communication.

Roberta Michnick Golinkoff is Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor at the University of Delaware. Her work in language development, spatial learning, and play has received numerous prizes. Passionate about disseminating developmental science for improving children’s and families’ lives, her latest book (with K. Hirsh-Pasek) is Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us about Raising Successful Children (APA Press).

Alan K. Goodboy is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University. His recent research focuses on instructor/student communication and learning, and bullying in educational and organizational contexts.

Lisa J. Goodnight is a professor of Communication in the Department of Communication and Creative Arts at Purdue University Northwest. She is also the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. Dr. Goodnight was a Basic Communication Course Director for over 20 years and is the co-author (with Dan Dunn) of Communication: Embracing Difference (Allyn and Bacon, 4th edition, 2014) and co-editor (with Sam Wallace) of The Basic Communication Course Online: Scholarship and Application (Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2005).

Jon A. Hess is Associate Dean of Faculty Scholarship, Internationalization, and Inclusive Excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Dayton. Instructional communication has been a central focus in both his scholarship and administrative work. Jon is the current editor of Communication Education.

Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research examines the development of early language and literacy as well as the role of play in learning. With her long-term collaborator, Roberta Golinkoff, she is author of 14 books and hundreds of publications. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, the President Elect of the International Society for Infant Studies, and has served as the Associate Editor of Child Development. Kathy received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Stephen Hunt serves as Professor of Communication and Executive Director of the School of Communication at Illinois State University. He recently completed an assignment serving as Chair of Illinois State’s American Democracy Project. Hunt is the author of over 30 scholarly articles, many focused on civic and political engagement, and is co-author of a public speaking textbook focused on critical thinking and civic engagement that is used by several communication departments throughout the country.

Regina Jucks is a professor at the Institute of Psychology for Education at the University of Muenster, Germany. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology in 2001 and her venia legendi for Psychology in 2005 (both University of Muenster). Her research fields address various settings of mostly computer-mediated contexts in instructional communication, ranging from doctor-patient interaction to higher education.

James Katt is an associate professor and coordinator of the Human Communication program for the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida. His current research interests are communication traits, instructional communication, and persuasion.

Stephanie Kelly is an assistant professor of business communication at North Carolina A&T State University. She holds a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in organizational communication from Murray State University, as well as a Ph.D. in communication and information from the University of Tennessee. Her research focus is on presence and information behavior.

Jeff Kerssen-Griep is Professor of Communication at the University of Portland, teaching coursework in communicating across societal barriers, communication theory, collaborative group leadership, and instructional, intercultural, and interpersonal communication. His scholarship examines how skillfully mitigating face threats helps shape learning relationships that foster intrinsic learning motivations, mentoring environments, higher credibility assessments, and greater adoption of feedback in teaching-learning situations.

Erika L. Kirby is Professor of Communication Studies at Creighton University, where she teaches courses on organizational communication, work-life, and communication and social identity(s). She studies the everyday intersections of work and personal life, and her related scholarship has appeared in numerous communication journals as well as recent handbooks and encyclopedias.

Sara LaBelle (Ph.D., West Virginia University) is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Chapman University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. Her work has appeared in a variety of peer-reviewed publication outlets including Personal Relationships, Communication Education, Western Journal of Communication, Communication Research Reports, and The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods.

Andrew M. Ledbetter is an associate professor in the Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University. His research and teaching address the use of communication technology in interpersonal and family relationships, with particular focus on processes of relational maintenance. In instructional contexts, he has researched how instructors regulate student use of technology in the classroom.

Matthew M. Martin is Chair and Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University. He obtained his B.A. from Valparaiso University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Kent State University. His research focuses on instructor/student communication and learning, bullying in educational and organizational contexts, and communication traits.

Joseph P. Mazer (Ph.D., Ohio University) is Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Communication at Clemson University. He has published articles and book chapters on communication and social media, social and academic support, emotion in teaching and learning, and measurement issues and trends in communication research. His research has appeared in leading scholarly journals, and he is currently ranked in the top 1% of prolific scholars in the Communication discipline spanning 2007–2011.

M. Chad McBride (Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2003) is Professor and Department Chair of Communication Studies at Creighton University. He researches how individuals communicatively co-construct situated identities in both their social networks and larger culture. His work has been published in several outlets such as Communication Education, Journal of Family Communication, and Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, to name but a few. He teaches courses in research methods, interpersonal communication, friendship, and the discourse of American family.

Scott A. Myers is a professor and Peggy Rardin McConnell Chair of Communication Studies in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in instructional communication, organizational communication, and small group communication. His current research efforts center on the college instructor-student communication relationship and adult sibling relationships.

Stephanie Norander holds the position of Executive Director, Communication Across the Curriculum and is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She teaches and researches in the areas of organizational communication and qualitative research methods. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Management Communication Quarterly, and Women and Language.

Mark P. Orbe is Professor of Communication & Diversity in the School of Communication at Western Michigan University, where he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. An internationally known educator, author, and consultant/trainer, Orbe has published a dozen books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters, the vast majority of which focus on explorations of the intersection of culture, communication, and power.

Heejung Park is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. As a cultural and developmental psychologist, she examines how various cultural factors such as cultural values, immigration, and socioeconomic conditions shape child and youth development, family relations, and parenting. She also focuses on adaptation and adjustment of individuals in situations of social change and globalization.

Jessa Reed is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of Otolaryngology at The Ohio State University. She has two main areas of research: how the arts foster school readiness skills and how young children learn new words during dyadic interactions. In particular, she is interested in the role of contingency in creating and sustaining common ground between communicative partners.

Tucker Robinson is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Communication at Missouri State University, where he teaches courses in public speaking. He has been admitted into the Communication doctoral program at the University of Missouri, beginning in the fall of 2016, where he will work with instructors and students in the Institute of Family Diversity and Communication.

C. Kyle Rudick is an assistant professor at the University of Northern Iowa, where he teaches courses in communication and instruction, qualitative research methods, and theory. His work has appeared in the Western Journal of Communication and Communication Education. He co-authored a textbook, Teaching from the Heart & Learning to Make a Difference, for communication instructors interested in implementing Critical Communication Pedagogy in their classes. The book is due for publication in the fall of 2016.

Chris R. Sawyer holds the rank of Professor in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University. His research into the causes, symptoms, and treatments of speech anxiety has appeared in numerous communication journals.

Ann-Kathrin Schindler is a research assistant at the Friedl Schöller Chair of Teaching and Learning Research at TUM School of Education, Technical University of Munich, Germany. In her dissertation, she investigated the effectiveness of a videoand evidence-based teacher professional development program (Dialogic Video Cycle) on productive classroom dialogue. Her research interests are in teacher-student interactions and communication, as well as teacher professional development with a focus on video-based reflections.

Tina Seidel holds the Friedl Schöller Chair of Teaching and Learning Research at TUM School of Education, Technical University of Munich, Germany. She is author of numerous books and articles on the topics of classroom research, teacher and teaching effectiveness, teacher learning, and teacher professional development. Her special interests are in video-based analysis of classrooms, teaching adaptivity, and aptitude-treatment-interaction, and development of multi-media based tools in teacher research.

Cheri J. Simonds is a professor of Communication at Illinois State University. She teaches in the area of communication pedagogy and instructional communication and has published several articles in national peer-reviewed journals including Communication Education, Communication Teacher, and The Basic Communication Course Annual. She has served as Editor of the National Communication Association’s teaching journal, Communication Teacher.

Andrew Stables is Professor of Education and Philosophy and Deputy Director for Research in the School of Education at the University of Roehampton in London. He has published widely in the fields of educational theory and curriculum, but is best known for his work on semiotics and the philosophy of education.

Clayton L. Terry earned his Communication M.A. at the University of Portland and his Communication Studies B.A. at California State University, Sacramento. His main areas of focus include rhetorical studies, rhetorical criticism, and critical and theoretical approaches to narrative rhetoric.

Jason J. Teven is Professor in the Department of Human Communication Studies at California State University Fullerton, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in theory, persuasion, instructional communication, and family communication. His research examines communication behaviors as predictors of source credibility, specifically, the impact of nonverbal immediacy and caring/ goodwill within instructional, interpersonal, and organizational communication contexts. He is an effective college teacher, an author of over 80 journal publications, book chapters, and conference papers, and is co-author of the popular book, Real Communication (Bedford-St. Martin’s Press).

Blair Thompson (Ph.D., University of Nebraska) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Western Kentucky University. His on-going research projects focus on analyzing school crisis communication, studying student and parental academic support, and examining how computer-mediated communication is transforming various pedagogical relationships. He has been published in Communication Education, Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, Narrative Inquiry, Communication Research Reports, Communication Research, and Computers in Human Behavior.

Melissa F. Tindage is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University. Her research has appeared in scholarly journals such as Communication Education, Communication Teacher, and the Basic Communication Course Annual.

Scott Titsworth (Ph.D., University of Nebraska, 1999) is a professor and currently Dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. His research generally explores connections between classroom communication and learning, with particular emphases on teacher clarity, note-taking, and emotion.

Joseph M. Valenzano, III is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Dayton. His teaching and research areas are basic course scholarship, religious communication, political communication, and popular culture. Currently, he serves as Editor of the Basic Communication Course Annual. He has authored three textbooks, in addition to having his research published in leading journals, such as Communication Monographs, Communication Quarterly, and Communication Education.

Shawn T. Wahl holds the position of Professor of Communication and Department Head in the School of Communication Studies at Missouri State University. He has published numerous communication textbooks, and his research has appeared in leading scholarly journals such as Communication Education. He served as President of the Central States Communication and is an active member of the National Communication Association.

Jennifer H. Waldeck (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Chapman University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses. Her work has appeared in a number of edited volumes and journals including The SAGE Handbook of Communication and Instruction, Communication Yearbook, Communication Education, and Communication Monographs. She has authored and co-authored three books, and in 2016 co-edited Consulting that Matters: A Handbook for Scholars and Practitioners.

Samuel P. Wallace (Ph.D., Ohio State University) is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Dayton. A basic course director for over 20 years, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Basic Communication Course Annual. He teaches courses in research methods, theory, nonverbal communication, and group decision making. His scholarship includes publications in communication pedagogy, innovation in the classroom, sustainable course development, course administration, and assessment.

Tiffany R. Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Montevallo. She explores communication surrounding college transition within instructional and family contexts. She has authored and coauthored articles in Communication Education, Communication Reports, The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, and Journal of Family Communication.

Melissa B. Wanzer holds the position of Professor in the Communication Studies Department at Canisius College, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in health communication, interpersonal communication, family communication, and persuasion. Her research has appeared in Communication Education, Health Communication, Communication Quarterly, and The Journal of Health Communication.

David Westerman is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at North Dakota State University and is a faculty affiliate for the Communication and Social Robotics Lab (www.combotlab.com). His scholarship focuses on how we use communication technologies to accomplish communication goals. His research has appeared in journals such as Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, and CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

Paul L. Witt holds the position of Professor in the Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in theory, character, and intercultural communication. His research has appeared in leading scholarly journals, and he served the National Communication Association as Editor of their most widely read journal, Communication Education

Chad Woolard is an instructor in the School of Communication at Illinois State University. He has worked closely with Illinois State University’s American Democracy Project as an instructor and project coordinator. His research focuses on rhetorical and persuasion theory, critical theory, ideological criticism, framing theory, civic education and engagement, political humor and satire, and instructional communication.

Jordan Young (M.S., Texas Christian University) is an instructor in the Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University and in the Department of Communication at Tarrant County College. She teaches courses in business and professional speaking and interpersonal communication. She has also served as Paul Witt’s Editorial Assistant of Communication Education.

Qin Zhang is an associate professor and chair in the Department of Communication at Fairfield University. Her research interests center on the effects of culture on communication in instructional and interpersonal contexts. Her research has appeared in major communication journals, including Communication Education, Human Communication Research, and Communication Research.