Anita P. Barbee

Anita P. Barbee is Professor and Distinguished University Scholar at the Kent School of Social Work and Family Science, University of Louisville. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Georgia in 1988 and after accepting an appointment in the School of Social Work in 1993 subsequently received her MSSW in 2001. She has been a member of IARR and preceding organizations since 1988 and will complete her six-year term in Presidential roles in August 2022. She conducts both basic and applied research in personal relationships on such topics as relationship formation and change, social support processes, and the impact of healthy relationship education on reductions of teen pregnancy, intimate partner violence, and suicidality. She also conducts research and evaluation in the field of child welfare with an emphasis on how organizational and interpersonal dynamics affect the ability of the workforce to cope with stress and remain on the job.

Rolando Diaz-Loving

Rolando Diaz-Loving obtained his PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981 and the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” in 2001. He is a Full Professor and Head of the Psychosocial Research Unit at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico). He has directed 49 doctoral, 25 masters and 24 bachelor-level theses and dissertations. His publications on personality and social psychological processes are the basis for the creation of a Mexican ethno-psychology. His bio-psycho-social-cultural theory on human relationships has guided innumerable studies and programs about family and couple of relationships, and his studies in the area of sexual behavior, contraceptive behavior, health and HIV are the foundation for numerous intervention programs. The abundant work of Diaz-Loving as author includes the co-edition of 16 volumes of Social Psychology in Mexico, 193 articles in scientific journals, 173 chapters in specialized books, 19 research books and two textbooks.

Jimmie Manning

Jimmie Manning (PhD, University of Kansas) is Professor and Chair of Communication Studies in the School of Social Research and Justice Studies at the University of Nevada (USA). His research focuses on meaning-making in relationships. This research spans multiple contexts to understand how individuals, couples, families, organizations, and other cultural institutions attempt to define, support, control, limit, encourage, or otherwise negotiate relationships. He explores these ideas through three contexts: relational discourses, especially those related to family, identity, love, gender, and/or sexuality; relational efficacy in health and organizational contexts; and digitally-mediated communication. This work has resulted in over 100 publications in outlets including Communication Monographs, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, among others. He recently received the National Communication Association Outstanding Teaching in Higher Education award and had the top-paper award for the Central States Communication Association Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Caucus named in his honor.