Associate Professor
Department Head

Ph.D., Ohio State University (1995)
M.A., University of Dayton (1990)
B.A., University of Dayton (1988)

Teaching and Research Areas
Health communication, interpersonal communication, language analysis, communication theory

"My research and teaching interests are primarily in interpersonal communication and relationships with an emphasis on the health care context. Additionally, I have taught organizational communication, conversational analysis, and public speaking. Within health communication, I prefer to study communication among health care professionals and their patients--usually physician-patient interaction in the medical interview. This does not mean I won't look at other relationships, in fact, I look forward to broadening my horizons to nurses, dietitians, physical therapists, or administrators. I believe research in health communication should be to answer questions regarding the nature of interpersonal communication and specific health outcomes. I would not lay claim to either a quantitative or qualitative methods training. I have utilized both in my previous research. Previous research topics include social support among illness-related communities, computer-based social support, interactional control in doctor-patient relationships and most recently communication competence in the physician-patient interaction. Given this emphasis in the health care context, I am open to other applied communication research contexts."

Selected Courses
COM 100, COM 405, COM 505/605, COM 702, COM 718, and COM 724