Michaela Devyn Mullis Piszczatoski, Ph.D. 2021, has received the national 2022 Sandra Petronio Family Communication Dissertation Excellence Award from the National Communication Association‘s Family Communication Division for “The Alienated Parent-Child Bond Across the Lifespan: Relational Reconnection in Parental Alienation Families.”

The dissertation was recognized for being helpful to families and mental health or legal professionals working with families who experience parental alienation. It conveys how families use communication to make sense of their experience and move toward establishing relational connections. It has been published as part of “Going down the Rabbit Hole”: Relational Tensions Experienced by Alienated Parents during Reconnection:  No 5  in the Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, Vol. 63, No. 5.

The Sandra Petronio Family Communication Dissertation Excellence Award is granted to a new scholar who successfully defended his or her dissertation during the previous year. The honor is based on whether the dissertation advances knowledge of family communication, methodological and theoretical rigor, and creativity or originality.

Posted: November 23, 2022
Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged as: Michaela Devyn Mullis Piszczatosk, NCA