Lisa Sparks (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1998) is the Director of Graduate Studies for the M.S. in Health Communication, as well as  Professor and Presidential Research Fellow of Health and Risk Communication at Chapman University. Prior to joining Chapman in 2006, Dr. Sparks occupied positions at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she served as Director of Graduate Programs and General Education Courses, affiliated faculty with the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases and the Center for Social Science Research, and the University of Texas at San Antonio, positions she held until she joined Chapman. A highly regarded teacher-scholar whose published work spans more than 100 research articles and scholarly book chapters, Dr. Sparks is the author and editor of more than 10 books in the areas of communication, health, and aging with a distinct focus on cancer communication science.

Jennifer L. Bevan (B.A., M.A., University of Delaware; Ph.D., University of Georgia, 2003) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Chapman University. Before joining Chapman in 2007, she served on the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and at the University of Southern California. Her research and teaching interests center upon interpersonal and health communication within close relationships. Specific research topics include the negotiation of difficult interactions such as ongoing conflict, jealousy, sexual resistance, uncertainty, and topic avoidance, as well as related psychological and physical health correlates of these experiences. She teaches courses in interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, conflict, and empirical research methods. Dr. Bevan’s publications include over 15 peer-reviewed scholarly communication and biomedical articles appearing in such journals as Communication Monographs, Argumentation and Advocacy, Social Science and Medicine, Communication Quarterly, Communication Studies, and Genetics in Medicine. Her dissertation, "Intrapersonal Consequences of Another’s Jealousy Expression: Toward a Reaction Model of Jealousy in Close Relationships" received the 2003 Interpersonal Communication Division Dissertation Award from the International Communication Association. Dr. Bevan has also been awarded numerous top student paper and top four paper awards in health and interpersonal communication at national and regional communication conventions and she currently serves on the editorial boards of Personal Relationships, Communication Research Reports, and Contemporary Argumentation and Debate.

Fran C. Dickson (Ph.D., Bowling Green State University, 1982) is the Incoming Chair of Chapman's Department of Communication Studies. Before coming to Chapman, Dr. Dickson served as Professor and Chair in the University of Denver's Department of Human Communication Studies, as well as the Director of the Wellness Living and Learning Community for the university. She has published 13 book chapters and 14 referred articles in the area of family communication. Dr. Dickson's most recent projects include exploration of parenting challenges among families that are homeless, conflict among later-life married and remarried couples, and HIV/AIDS among later-life dating adults. Her teaching interests are interpersonal and personal relationships, health communication, communication and aging, research methods, and communication and conflict. Her work appears in Handbook of Marriage and the Family (2nd Ed.), Engaging Theories in Family Communication: Multiple Perspectives, and The Family Communication Sourcebook. In addition, she has published articles in the Southern Communication Journal, Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, The Journal of Applied Communication Research, The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and The Journal of Family Communication. She is also a past chair of the Family Communication Division of the National Communication Association.

Ann Gordon (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Chapman University. She specializes in research methods, women and politics, political communication, voting behavior and public opinion. She is co-editor of Anticipating Madam President (Lynne Rienner, 2002), author of Playing Politics: An Active Learning Approach to American National Government (McGraw-Hill, 2004) and co-author of When Stereotypes Collide: Race, Gender, and Videostyle in Congressional Campaigns (Peter Lang, 2005).

Cyril Rakovski (Ph.D., Harvard University) is an assistant professor
of mathematics at Chapman University.

Reed Dickens, former White House assistant press secretary for President George W. Bush, is CEO and founder of Outside Eyes, a communication firm that provides media strategy, brand development and crisis management to clients in many industries. Dickens is a regular contributor for CNN’s Larry King Live, an adjunct professor at Chapman University, a partner of a private equity group and a frequent speaker at corporate events all over the country. He has also produced a documentary on faith and politics titled Article VI.

Gary Kreps (Ph.D., USC, 1979) served as an adjunct faculty member during Interterm Session 2009. He is professor and chair of the Department of Communication at George Mason University (GMU), where he holds the Eileen and Steve Mandell Endowed Chair in Health Communication. He also holds a joint faculty appointment with the National Center for Biodefense at GMU. Prior to his appointment at GMU, he served for five years as the founding Chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute, where he planned, developed, and coordinated major new national research and outreach initiatives concerning risk communication, health promotion, behavior change, technology development, and information dissemination to promote effective cancer prevention, screening, control, care, and survivorship.

Nick Leighton (MBA, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom, 1994) is an adjunct instructor at Chapman, specializing in Crisis Communications. Nick is the founder and CEO of NettResults International Public Relations, a Middle East-based public relations agency launched in November 1999 with offices Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and California. NettResults is an award winning, leading PR agency in the Middle East and acts as a gateway to U.S. PR agencies looking for world wide media implementation. He has over 15 years of experience in the media relations industry, and has lived and worked in the United States, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Nick’s first degree was in psychology, and he followed this with an MBA from Leicester Business School in the United Kingdom, a centre of excellence in marketing. He also has a diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK. Nick is co-author of the crisis communications book CRISIS COMMUNICATION: Practical PR strategies for reputation management and company survival, which was published by Kogan Press in December 2008. 

Melinda Villagran (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2001) will serve as an adjunct faculty member during Interterm Session 2010. Dr. Villagran is an Associate Professor of Communication and the M.A. Chair for the Communication Department at George Mason University. She is also the Director for the M.A program in Strategic and Health Communication. Dr. Villagran teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses at GMU. Her areas of expertise include health communication, communication and health disparities, risk communication, Latino health, cancer communication, and empirical research methods. Dr. Villagran has received multiple rewards, and her work has been published in books, book chapters and journal articles. Some of her work can be seen in journals including Communication Monographs, Health Communication, Communication Research Reports and more.

Michael Villaire (M.S.L.M., University of La Verne, 2006) is an adjunct instructor at Chapman University. He is director of programs and operations at the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (IHA). He has worked in editorial/publishing, communications management and public relations at the Los Angeles County Medical Association, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. He has served as managing editor of many medical publications and peer-reviewed journals in medicine and nursing. Villaire's experience is primarily in the nonprofit sector and includes project management, and producing continuing education medical conferences and symposia. He has been with IHA since 2000. Villaire earned a master of science in leadership and management (nonprofit emphasis) in 2006 from the University of La Verne.