College of Arts and Sciences Home
Favorites ()
Apply

Kristina Wenzel Egan

Assistant Professor

Communication Studies

  • Education

  • Ph.D. Family Communication, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 2014
    MA Organizational Communication, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, 2010
    BA Business Administration, concentration in communication, Minor in Women’s Studies, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, 2007

  • Expertise

  • Health and interpersonal communication, storytelling and narratives, qualitative methods

  • Research Interests

  • Broadly speaking, Wenzel Egan's work focuses on how people communicate during difficult health experiences, as a means to provide competent ways for individuals, families, and healthcare providers to communicate with those encountering difficulty. Specifically, she uses interpretive methods including ethnographic methods, the Retrospective Interview Technique, and narrative analyses to examine the dominant discourses individuals draw from to tell stories about health, illness, death, and dying. While there is a growing body of work addressing the process of narrative in health communication, her research focuses on transitions—the before’s and after’s—that happen as individuals face health challenges. The ultimate goal is to help individuals who encounter health challenges understand the communication behaviors that contribute to supportive, or at least functioning, relationships with their close relationships and health care providers.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2022 Young-Erdos, C. & Wenzel Egan, K. A. Guidelines for creating a meaningful interdisciplinary short-term study abroad course. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching.

2021 Wenzel Egan, K. A. The boundary permeability patterns associated with managing private information in family eldercare relationships. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication. doi: 10.1080/17459435.2020.1776758

2018 Wenzel Egan, K. A. & Hesse, C. R. “Tell me so that I can help you”: Private information and privacy coordination issues in the context of eldercare. Journal of Family Communication, 18, 217-232. doi: 10.1080/15267431.2018.1466784

2017 Wenzel Egan, K. A. The audio postcard assignment: Practicing the use of descriptive language. Communication Teacher, 32, 131-135. doi: 10.1080/17404622.2017.1372603

2017 Halliwell, D., Wenzel Egan, K. A., & Howard, E. Flying in a V formation: Themes of (in)equity, reality, and togetherness in adult siblings’ narrative explanations of shared parental caregiving. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 45, 256-273. doi: 10.1080/00909882.2017.1320574

2014 Wenzel, K. A., & Poynter, D. “I’m mother! I can take care of myself!”: A contrapuntal analysis of older parents’ relational talk with their adult children. Southern Communication Journal, 79, 147-170. doi: 10.1080/1041794X.2014.881540

2012 Hesse, C. R., Rauscher, E., & Wenzel, K. A. Alexithymia and uncertainty management. Communication Research Reports, 29, 343-352. doi: 10.1080/08824096.2012.723647

2009 Becker, R., Amundson, N., Anderson, D., Wenzel, K., Yakubova, M., Sajaia, N., & Frannea, R. Political participation, efficacy, and the 2008 Minnesota presidential caucuses. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 10(1), 38-45. doi: 10.1080/17459430902783785

Book Chapters

2019 Wenzel Egan, K. A. Recalibrating privacy rules in the eldercare family. In S. Symonds LeBlanc (Ed.), Casing the family: Theoretical and applied approaches to understanding family communication. DuBuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing.

2017 Wenzel Egan, K. A. “Do you remember that time when…?”: Modeling StoryCorps interviews to teach family storytelling. In J. S. Seiter, J. Peeples, & M. L. Sanders (Eds.), Great Ideas for Teaching Students (G.I.F.T.S.) in Communication. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.