Dr. Alexander is a Professor in the Department of Applied Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. She received her Ph.D. in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Texas at Austin and her M.A. in Communication as well as B.S. in Public Relations from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. She teaches courses in family communication, interpersonal communication, public speaking, persuasion, and communication education. She was the recipient of the Teaching Distinction Award, a university-wide teaching award at SIUE. In addition to teaching at the university level, she has facilitated numerous workshops to help individuals focus on their leadership strengths, interpersonal skills, and public presentations. Dr. Alexander’s research focuses primarily on interpersonal communication among family members and between romantic partners. Her studies have sought to understand how people overcome adversity in their relationships through talk and various forms of relationship repair. She has also examined the ways in which people talk about and express their emotions in close relationships. Dr. Alexander has received six Top/Top Four Paper awards at the National Communication Association, the International Communication Association, and Central States Communication annual conferences. She received the Family Communication Division Distinguished Article Award in 2013 by the National Communication for a multi-authored piece on hurtful family environments. Dr. Alexander recently received the Dawn O. Braithwaite Award for her qualitative research in family communication from the Central States Communication Association.Her research has been published in journals such as Communication Monographs, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Communication Research, Communication Research Reports, and Communication Teacher. She is also the co-author of the book entitled, Teaching Interpersonal Communication. In her spare time, Dr. Alexander is the director of I Support the Girls Edwardsville and co-faculty sponsor of I Support the Girls-SIUe.  On a personal note, Dr. Alexander enjoys spending time with her husband, son, twin daughters, and her dogs. She also loves reading, teaching fitness classes, and visiting her family in Kansas City, MO.