Tamara Afifi, Ph.D. '99 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, comes to us after five years at Penn State and two at Luther College. Her research focuses on how family members cope communicatively with the challenges of the divorce and remarriage process. She received the International Communication Association Young Scholar Award in June of this year, recognizing her extraordinary scholarship in Interpersonal and Family Communication.
Walid Afifi, joins us after three years at the University of Delaware and seven at Penn State. A '96 Ph.D. from at the University of Arizona, his research involves people’s experience of uncertainty and their related decisions to seek or avoid information in interpersonal contexts.
Karen Myers, Ph.D. '05 Arizona State, joins us in January after a year at Purdue as assistant professor of organizational communication. She received the W. Charles Redding Outstanding Dissertation Award in Organizational Communication from the International Communication Association in June of this year.
Rene Weber, media communication specialist who studies the cognitive and emotional effects of television and new technology media, especially new generation video games, also joins us in January. Currently a Michigan State assistant professor in mass communication and telecommunications, he received his Ph.D. from the Berlin University of Technology.