Communication

Jody Koenig Kellas is a Willa Cather Professor who conducts research and teaches classes on interpersonal, family and health communication. She studies the ways in which narratives, storytelling and related forms of communicated sense-making can help individuals and families communicate and cope in times of difficulty and illness. Her research laboratory, Narrative Nebraska, seeks to implement interdisciplinary, narrative-based interventions to improve caregiving, communication and psychosocial well-being for families and care providers. (Updated March 2025)

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.