Communication

Dr. Jody Kellas is a professor who conducts research and teaches classes on interpersonal, family, and health communication. The overarching purpose of her research program is to study the ways in which narratives, storytelling, and related forms of communicated sense-making can help individuals and families understand, negotiate, and improve communication and coping within the context of difficulty and illness. Her research lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln - NARRATIVE NEBRASKA - seeks to implement interdisciplinary, narrative-based interventions to improve caregiving, communication, and psychosocial well-being for families and care providers.

Dr. Jordan Soliz is a professor who studies communication and intergroup processes primarily in family and personal relationships. Current projects focus on communication in multiethnic-racial families, interfaith families, and grandparent-grandchild relationships with a goal toward understanding communicative dynamics associated with individual well-being and relational-family solidarity. He also investigates processes and outcomes of intergroup contact and intergroup dialogue as well as communication processes that minimize outgroup attitudes (e.g., ageism) and/or buffer effects of discrimination.

Allison Bonander is an assistant professor of practice and the director of speech, interpersonal, family, and health communication program. Her research focuses on gender communication and conversations regarding sex education primarily focusing on family communication, gay and lesbian parenting, and communication centered in gender and sexuality. Bonander is also the associate director of the university’s speech and debate team, serving as the director of interpretation.