Tammy Afifi has been acknowledged for her research contributions with a 2021 National Communication Association Distinguished Scholar Award. Dr. Tamara Afifi is Chair and Professor in the Department of Communication at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Afifi’s research examines, among other issues, how family members communicate when stressed and the impact of that communication on personal and relational health and information regulation in interpersonal contexts. Dr. Afifi has amassed nearly 150 publications during their career, with publications in the discipline’s top journals as well as in several journals outside the discipline. In addition to winning several awards, including for the development of the Theory of Resilience and Relational Load, Dr. Afifi has served the discipline as an editor of Communication Monographs.
For press release, see https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2021/020408/communication-leader