Pamela J. Lannutti (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is Professor and Director of the Center for Human Sexuality Studies at Widener University. Dr. Lannutti studies communication in personal relationships, with a focus on the relationships of LGBTQ+ people. She is the author of Experiencing same-sex marriage: Individuals, couples, social networks (2014) and her work has appeared in communication and interdisciplinary journals including Human Communication Research, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Personal Relationships.  Her research has been recognized with various awards, including the Randy Majors Memorial Award for Distinguished GLBTQ Communication Scholarship. She is a former editor of Communication Quarterly and is active in the International Association for Relationship Research, the National Communication Association, and the Eastern Communication Association.

The overarching aim of Patricia Gettings’ program of research is to explicate the ways in which individuals communicatively manage their relationships with organizations, and how these practices influence outcomes like identity, relational well-being, and organizational inclusiveness. Dr. Gettings employs both quantitative and qualitative methods in her work. She earned her MA and PhD from Purdue University and is currently an Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Albany.

Elizabeth Hintz (Ph.D. University of South Florida) is an Assistant Professor of Health Communication at the University of Connecticut since 2021. A native Wisconsinite, she received her M.A. from Purdue University and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. Her research examines how people managing complex, stigmatized, and poorly understood health conditions experience and navigate challenging conversations with partners, family members, and clinicians. Her work can be found in journals such as Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Health Communication. 

Mengyan is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She teaches remotely from Michigan. Mengyan received her Ph.D. (2021) and master’s degree (2015) from the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Finance at Wuhan University, China. Her research interests include but not limited to uncovering what works for sales marketing/advertising, understanding effects of emerging technology use, developing user-friendly technology products to improve individuals’ access to healthy life, and discovering how family communication relates to psychological or physical health.

Colter Ray (PhD, Arizona State University, 2018) is an interpersonal communication scholar whose research focuses on social support following a cancer diagnosis and aims to improve communication between people with cancer and their supporters. Oftentimes his research focuses on the negative aspects of supportive interactions, including instances of unwanted support or times when supporters choose to avoid communicating support. Colter also researches the role of memory in social support and how people recall and reuse previous support messages when coping with new stressors. Colter teaches courses on quantitative research methods, relational communication, and health communication.

Liesel Sharabi (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an associate professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University, where she directs the Relationships and Technology Lab. Her research examines communication in romantic relationships and technology’s role in attraction, dating, and marriage.

Lindsey Thomas (PhD 2015, University of Iowa) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Illinois State University. Her program of research employs a variety of data collection and analysis methods to explore the intersections of families, health, and culture. Most recently, Dr. Thomas has been exploring the ways in which young adults who formerly resided in foster care make sense of their experiences and how experiences and sensemaking processes might connect with wellbeing outcomes.

Tiffany R. Wang is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Montevallo. She holds a B.S. and M.S. from Texas Christian University and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She explores communication surrounding college transition within instructional and family contexts.