Lisa Guntzviller

Lisa Guntzviller is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Guntzviller has broad interests in interpersonal, family, and health communication, mainly with underserved populations (e.g., low-income, minority). Her research examines interpersonal communication situations in which identities are challenged and contested. Identity dilemmas arise when people need to accomplish a communication task and must fill a communication role that challenges a partner’s identity. For example, her research has included language brokering (when bilingual children translate and culturally mediate for a monolingual parent) and advice giving in close relationships. The tasks of language brokering and giving advice present inherent identity dilemmas; language brokering requires the child to speak for a parent while also respecting the parent’s authority, while giving advice suggests the other person has a problem and is not capable of handling it independently. Her research focuses on parent-child relationships, Spanish-speaking families, and discussions of health issues. Additionally, she has also published on patient-provider communication when the patient has communication difficulties (e.g., low English proficiency, low health literacy). Her research has often utilizes dyadic data and employs a multiple goals framework. As of Fall 2023, Dr. Guntzviller is starting a project on Latina mother and adolescent support, stress, and sleep.