People
Wang Liao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. He studies everyday interactions (mediated or not) and their social consequences, typically in the contexts of groups and interpersonal relationships. He is particularly interested in the roles that communication dynamics and related technologies play in the emergence of solidarity and hierarchy in everyday encounters, as well as various processes of social influence as the downstream consequences (e.g., compliance gaining, advice taking, information exchange, and community engagement). Recently, his interests also extend to how people interact and build relationships with artificial-intelligence agents (‘bots’). To approach these interests, he uses various quantitative methods, ranging from survey, online/in-lab experiments, content analysis, as well as more computation-intense studies of online/offline behavioral traces and contents. He is particularly enthusiastic about causal inference using these methods for his interested phenomena.
Valerie Manusov, Professor, has served as Chair for the Interpersonal and Nonverbal Communication Divisions of the National Communication Association and for the Interpersonal Communication Interest Group of the Western States Communication Association. Professor Manusov teaches courses in Interpersonal and Nonverbal Communication at the graduate and undergraduate level and leads the departmental honors program. She is the co-editor of The Sage Handbook of Nonverbal Communication, and the editor or co-editor of two other volumes. Her recent research focuses primarily on the ways in which nonverbal events are interpreted and how such discourse represents particular views about the nature of nonverbal communication, cultural values, relational quality, and other attributes. Currently, she is working on a research team investigating how mindfulness plays out in interpersonal relationships and serves on UW’s Graduate Council.
Savaughn E. Williams is an acting assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. She will be receiving her Ph. D. from the University of Kansas. She has received her M.A. from Ball State University, and B.A. from Oklahoma Baptist University. Ms. Williams specializes in interpersonal communication focusing on relationships such as friendships, families, organizational interactions, and more. Her research utilizes critical qualitative methods such as interviews, photovoice, ethnography, and autoethnography to better understand questions around identity, race, and relationships. She utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to theory through utilizing communication theories and critical theories to help explore and better understand underrepresented populations. Through her work she has explored interracial friendships, families in a nonprofit, Black women in academia, and Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BIPOC) veterans with PTSD. She is most interested in highlighting underrepresented people and community engaged research.
Graduate Students:
Courses
Graduate students who wish to learn more about interpersonal and relational Communication can enroll in the Department of Communication courses listed below. Students also typically enroll in other courses within and outside the Department, and students are welcome to develop programs of study that combine different area emphases.
COM 514 Critical Discourse Analysis
COM 512 Critical, Social, and Practice-Based Approaches
COM 517 Survey Research
COM 520 Statistical Methods in Communication
COM 521 Advanced Statistical Methods in Communication
COM 534 Observational Rating and Coding
COM 537 Comm and Community
COM 555 Political Deliberation
COM 567 Ethnicity, Gender, and Comm
COM 569 Relational Comm
COM 570 Organizational Comm
COM 576 Interpersonal Comm
Undergraduate students courses in the area of social and cultural communication emphasize how meanings are communicated through symbolic processes in various mediated and unmediated contexts. Of central concern is how personal, social, and cultural identities are reflected and constructed through communicative processes.
COM 233 Introduction to Language and Society (5) VLPA
COM 270 Interpersonal Communication (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 289 Communication and Difference (5) I&S
COM 318 The Creative Advantage (5) I&S
COM 325 Communication, Cities, and Sustainability (5) I&S
COM 351 Interviewing Principles and Practices (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 359 Writing for Mass Media (5) I&S
COM 373 Communication in Small Groups (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 374 Perspectives on Language (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 376 Nonverbal Communication (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 378 Social Approaches to Interpersonal Communication
COM 389 Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Media (5) I&S,
COM 418 Com & Environment (5) (I&S)
COM 443 Indigenous Films, Sovereign Visions (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 444 Public Relations and Society (5) I&S
COM 451 Mass Media and Culture (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 472 Empirical Approaches to Interpersonal Communication (5) I&S
COM 473 Discussion Leadership (3) VLPA/I&S
COM 474 Communication, Conflict, and Cooperation (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 475 Organizational Communication (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 478 Intercultural Communication (5) I&S
COM 480 Communication in Adolescent Environments (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 482 Interpersonal Media (5) I&S
COM 484 Cultural Codes in Communication (5) VLPA/I&S
COM 488 Race, Gender, and Power in Asian American Media (5) I&S, DIV
COM 489 Black Cultural Studies (5) I&S
COM 490 Representing Beyond the Binaries: Mixing Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Media (5) I&S,
COM 492 Re-Conceptualizing Communication and Difference Abroad (6) VLPA/I&Somm
COM 577 Comm in Small Groups
COM 578 Intercultural Comm
COM 580 Nonverbal Comm
Interaction Lab
The InterAction Lab -and- Family Communication and Relationships Lab is a space dedicated to conducting state-of-art communication research. The lab includes both CMU 321 and 323. CMU 323 functions as a control center for the unobtrusive audio and video recording that occurs within CMU 321. It also is used to store biological samples for studies on the physiology of communication. CMU 321 is a controlled environment equipped with flexible furniture to accomplish various research activities such as interaction and experimental study designs, focus groups, interviews, and various workshops. CMU 321 also includes a couch and comfortable chairs to simulate a realistic interaction setting. In addition to CMU 321 and 323, CMU 325 is used occasionally when research designs are more complex and require additional space. It includes a large table, which facilitates such activities as the collection of biological samples and the completion of surveys.