SC&I Names Jennifer Theiss Director of Ph.D. Program for Second Term
The Rutgers School of Communication and Information has named Professor of Communication Jennifer Theiss director of the Ph.D. Program in Communication, Information, and Media effective July 1, 2026.
Theiss, who previously held this position from 2017–2023, succeeds Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Melissa Aronczyk, who has served as the program's director since 2023.
"I am eager to step back into the role of Ph.D. Program director at SC&I to continue many of the initiatives and programs that were set into motion during my first term," Theiss said. "I derive a lot of joy from working with our doctoral students and mentoring them through the program and their professional development. It is very gratifying to help students navigate the challenges of academic work and develop as scholars."
In this role, Theiss will guide doctoral candidates from their first year through dissertation completion and job placement. Doctoral students will also be supported by staff member Sean Hallihan, program coordinator for the Ph.D. Program. His responsibilities encompass the entire program, from admissions and advising to dissertation defense and graduation, ensuring students have a strong doctoral experience.
Theiss is a renowned international scholar whose research examines the ways interpersonal communication shapes and reflects relationship characteristics during times of transition in romantic relationships and families. Her work advances relational turbulence theory, which positions relational uncertainty and interdependence processes as relationship qualities that are heightened during transitions and intensify emotions, cognitions, and communication behaviors during high-stakes interpersonal episodes.
Five of Theiss' publications have received distinguished article awards, and her work has been featured on top paper panels at the National Communication Association and International Communication Association 16 times.
Theiss is the author of the book "The Experience and Expression of Uncertainty in Close Relationships," which received the Gerald R. Miller Book Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association. She is also co-author of the third edition of the textbook "Interpersonal Communication: Putting Theory into Practice" and the co-editor of the "Routledge Handbook of Communication and Resilience." She is currently the lead editor working on the "Handbook of Relational Turbulence" to be published by Cambridge University Press.
Theiss is a member of the advisory board of the SC&I Family Communication and Relationships Lab, a social science lab that partners with Michigan State University and collaborates with researchers across the globe to conduct and disseminate cutting-edge family communication research that explores family disruptions and processes that can make a difference in the everyday lives of families.
She also serves on the Health and Wellness Cluster, also housed at SC&I, which brings together faculty across the school whose research, teaching, and service focuses centrally on closing disparities and improving health and wellness outcomes for individuals, groups, and communities in the U.S. and globally.
Theiss is a fellow of the International Association for Relationship Research and the recipient of the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Research or Distinguished Service in Family Communication from the National Communication Association.
The SC&I Ph.D. program in Communication, Information and Media provides doctoral training in theory and research related to the fields of communication, library and information science, and journalism and media studies.
The program trains students in the theoretical and research skills necessary for scholarly and professional leadership in the fields of communication, library and information science, and journalism and media studies. The strategic combination of these areas helps prepare students to address key questions facing our society in the 21st century.
The curriculum focuses on the nature and function of communication, information, and media institutions, policies, processes and systems, examining their impact on individuals and social, organizational, national and international affairs. In doing so, our program’s interdisciplinary approaches to these issues are strongly supported and encouraged.
