Dawn O. Braithwaite (Ph.D., University of Minnesota; M.A., California State University, Long Beach, B.A., California State University Fullerton) is nationally recognized as one of the leading scholars in family communication. She was president of the National Communication Association in 2010, past president of the Western States Communication Association (2000), and past chair of the Interpersonal Communication Division at NCA. She was named the Distinguished Scholar by the Western States Communication Association in 2014. Braithwaite is the recipient of numerous research and service awards (among them: 2011 NCA Family Communication Division Distinguished Book Award, 2007 WSCA Distinguished Service Award, 2006 NCA Brommel Award for Family Communication, 2002 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Achievement in the Social Sciences, 2000 ACA Gerald Phillips Mentoring Award), and numerous Top Paper Awards in interpersonal and family communication. She is a Senior Research Fellow of the Council on Contemporary Families. She is co-author of the college textbooks Family communication: Cohesion and change (Pearson, ©, 2015), Casing Interpersonal Communication (Kendall Hunt, ©2011, 2015) and Engaging Theories in Family Communication (Sage, ©2006) and sits or has sat on many editorial journal boards including: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships; Journal of Family Communication; Western Journal of Communication; Journal of Applied Communication Research; Communication Studies; and Communication Monographs. She, along with co-editor Paul Schrodt, is one of the best connected and well-regarded scholars within the discipline.
Leslie A. Baxter is F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, where she has taught for 15 years. She has published over 130 books, book chapters, and articles on interpersonal and family communication. She is the recipient of many awards, including, from the National Communication Association, the Distinguished Scholar Award, the Bernard Brommel Family Communication Award, the Charles Woolbert Research Award, the Franklin Knower Article Award, and the Gerald Miller Book Award; the Berscheid-Hatfield Award from the International Association for Relationship Research (formerly INPR); and the inaugural WSCA Scholar Award from the Western States Communication Association.