Willa Cather Professor and Department Chair, Department of Communication Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Dr. Jody Koenig Kellas

Dr. Jody Koenig Kellas is Willa Cather Professor and department chair in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She teaches and conducts research on interpersonal, family, and health communication. The goal of her research program is to study the ways in which narratives and storytelling can be translated to help individuals and families understand, negotiate, and improve communication, coping, and individual, relational, and interactional well-being. She is the author of communicated narrative sense-making theory (Koenig Kellas, 2022, 2018) and founder of Narrative Nebraska, a research lab focused on investigating and applying the ways in which narratives and storytelling can improve the communication and lives of participants. The majority of her research focuses on family storytelling. Her recent work provides empirical evidence for the mental and relational health benefits of a theoretically grounded translational storytelling intervention called Narrative Parenting which helps parents make sense of and – in the process build community and connection with other parents around – the difficulties and joys of parenting. She has received many awards for her scholarship and teaching, including the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication and the Kathleen Galvin Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award from the National Communication and the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA). She earned her undergraduate degree in Communication at Northwestern University and her MA and PhD in Communication at the University of Washington.