Dialogue: Theorizing Difference in Communication Studies

Rob Anderson, professor of communication and professor of international studies at Saint Louis University, teaches and learns about dialogue in campus settings, interpersonal relationships, and media institutions. His articles on these topics have appeared since 1972 in journals from a variety of disciplines. A vigorous advocate of the dialogue of coauthorship, Rob’s ten books include texts in communication theory and interviewing, as well as scholarly studies of public dialogue in contemporary journalism and intellectual history—The Conversation of Journalism (Praeger, 1994), The Reach of Dialogue (Hampton Press, 1994), The Martin Buber-Carl Rogers Dialogue (SUNY, 1997), and Moments of Meeting (SUNY, 2002). He believes the following to be therapeutic: Quiet dinners with Dona, sitting on the porch, watching soccer, Miles Davis on the stereo, and classes that talk back.

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.

Kenneth N. Cissna is professor of communication at the University of South Florida. He is the author (with Rob Anderson) of Moments of Meeting: Buber, Rogers, and the Potential for Public Dialogue (SUNY, 2002) and The Martin Buber-Carl Rogers Dialogue: A New Transcript with Commentary (SUNY, 1997) as well as a monograph on "The Rhetoric of Public Dialogue" in Communication Research Trends (also with Meghan Clune, 2003). His edited book Applied Communication in the 21st Century (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995) won the Outstanding Book award from the Applied Communication Division of the National Communication Association. He edited the Journal of Applied Communication Research and the Southern Communication Journal, and is past president of the Florida Communication Association. Currently, he serves as Vice President Elect of the Southern States Communication Association.