Jennifer Becker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Communication
Contact
Bio
Jennifer A. H. Becker (PhD Oklahoma, 2005) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Depending on her research goals, she has used quantitative and qualitative methods to study varied forms of interpersonal communication in relational and applied contexts. Dr. Becker’s work has appeared in academic outlets such as the Journal of Communication Pedagogy, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Communication Monographs, Journal of Applied Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Communication Studies, and Journal of Surgical Education. Some of Dr. Becker’s more recent scholarship applies an interpersonal perspective to healthcare contexts, such as patient-provider communication and attending-resident surgeons’ communication in the operating room. She also studies the stories of local peoples, such as the intergenerational stories of German families who settled in Texas as well as the lived experiences of Mexican-American familias in the culturally vibrant Westside of San Antonio. In 2020, Dr. Becker and Dr. Caroline Parsons published the edited volume Honors Communication: Contextual Issues and Lessons Learned in Teaching, Advising, and Mentoring the Undergraduate Honors Student in Communication (Peter Lang, ISBN 978-1-4331-7549-7).
Over the years, Dr. Becker has taught courses in interpersonal, relational, and family communication as well as capstone, human communication theory, research methods, and college-level instruction courses. She is a versatile instructor who has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, honors courses, experiential learning/service learning courses, and all modalities (in-person, asynchronous online, synchronous online, and hybrid).
Dr. Becker originally hails from southeastern Minnesota. In her free time, she enjoys exploring and contributing to the local community with her husband and three school-aged children.
Teaching
- COM 5973 Applied Interpersonal Communication
- COM 5103 Theories and Applications of Communication: Seminar in Interpersonal Communication
- COM 5013 Communication Theory
- COM 4813 Theory and Practice of Social Interaction (Capstone)
- COM 4383 Relational Communication
- COM 3383 Interpersonal Communication
- GBA 4873 Global Business Immersion (Study Abroad to Sienna and Florence, Italy)
Research Interests
- Interpersonal Communication
- Applied Communication
- Community-Based Research
- Family Communication
- Health Communication
- Communication Pedagogy
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Communication, University of Oklahoma (2005)
- M.A. in Communication, Ball State University (1999)
- B.A. in Communication and Psychology (double major), Winona State University (1998)
Honors and Awards
Presentations
Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials
Publications
Atkinson, A. G., Becker, J. A. H., Willis, R. & Kempenich, J. W. (in press). Surgery attendings’ autonomy-supportive and controlling coaching behaviors in the operating room. Journal of Surgical Education. Impact Factor 2.6
Becker, J. A. H. (2025). Beyond beer and bratwurst: German Texans’ storytelling through the lenses of Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Theory and Communication Theory of Resilience. Communication Studies, 76(5), 511-529. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2025.2469330 Impact Factor 1.4
Becker, J. A. H. (2023). Transforming experiential learning in the honors interpersonal communication course: Interpersonal enrichment journeys during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Journal of Communication Pedagogy, 7, 20-40. https://doi.org/10.31446/JCP.2023.1.03 Impact Factor 0.9
Co-Edited Book
Becker, J. A. H., & Parsons, C. S. (Eds.). (2020). Honors communication: Contextual issues and lessons learned in teaching, advising, and mentoring the undergraduate honors student in communication. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b16292
