Dr. Christine E. Kunkle (formerly known as Rittenour)

Areas of Study:

• Family Communication
• Intergroup Communication
• Communication and Aging

Research Interests:

• Communicated prejudice
• Social justice
• Family socialization
• In-law relationships
• Gender and feminism  

Dr. Kunkle researches families and prejudice. She is fascinated by humans' differential (mis)treatment of those dubbed as different, and she asserts that family is a primary site for experiencing and teaching "difference." Some of her work addresses within-family differences based in social (e.g., ethnicity, age), structural (e.g., in-law relationships), and value-based identities (e.g., feminism, generativity), as she reveals how these differences coincide with the unity and happiness that family members feel for each other. Some of her work addresses communication  about  difference, including that which happens within the family, then "spilling' into family members' treatment of those outside of the family. Dr. Kunkle also works with the ADVANCE team to facilitate prosocial change at the institutional level.  

Education: