Engaging Theories in Interpersonal Communication

Dawn O. Braithwaite (PhD, University of Minnesota) is a Willa Cather Professor of Communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. She studies discourse-dependent families, dialectics of relating, and communication rituals in stepfamilies and voluntary kin. She has published 6 books and over 130 articles and chapters. A Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association and Western States Communication Associations, Braithwaite received NCA's Bernard J. Brommel Award for Family Communication and the Becker Distinguished Service Award. She is the Past President of NCA and WSCA.Paul Schrodt (PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) is the Philip J. and Cheryl C.BurguièresProfessor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University, USA. He studies communication processes that facilitate family relationships, with a particular interest in conflict and stepfamily functioning. He has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters, has received the National Communication Association's Bernard J. Brommel Award for Family Communication, and served as Editor of Communication Monographs.