Faculty Feature of the Month

February 12, 2021 - Ireland Ingram

We are excited to announce the February HRCC featured faculty member of the month is Dr. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall. Dr. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department at Michigan State University and Director of the Family Communication and Relationships Lab. She co-founded the Family Communication and Relationships Lab with Dr. Kristina Scharp in 2015. The lab houses a collection of interdisciplinary researchers and students from across the globe interested in understanding the complex dynamics of family communication in a variety of contexts.

This past May, she received a U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program award to work in Slovenia. As a Fulbright Scholar, she will research and lecture at the University of Ljubljana. She will take part in a project to explore how families utilize communication to balance work and life in the U.S. and Slovenia.

Her research focuses on difficult conversations and how close relationships evolve over time. She has applied and extended interpersonal and family communication theories (e.g., family communication patterns theory (FCP), confirmation theory) to explore how family communication and support are associated with young adults’ academic, relational, and psychological well-being. Other current projects focus on changes in perceptions of family member marginalization over the life course and women's experiences in "traditionally male" career fields.

To learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, please visit her website or blog by clicking the links below:

Website: http://www.dorrancehall.com/

Blog: https://dorrancehall.wordpress.com/

 

Recent publications:

Dorrance Hall, E., McNallie, J., Custers, K., Timmermans, E., Wilson, S., & Van den Bulck, J. (2017). A cross-cultural examination of the mediated role of social support and talking with parents on the relationship between family communication patterns and first-year college student academic and social adjustment in the United States and Belgium. Communication Research. doi: 10.1177/0093650216657755

Dorrance Hall, E. (online first). The communicative process of resilience for marginalized family members. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. doi: 10.1177/0265407516683838

Dorrance Hall, E. (online first). The process of family member marginalization: Turning points experienced by "black sheep." Personal Relationships. doi: 10.1111/pere.12196

 

For more information on Elizabeth's publications and research interests, please visit her profile on ResearchGate here.