Faculty Profile for Dr. Kristen Nacole LeBlanc Farris

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Kristen Farris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017, where she studied interpersonal communication at the intersections of health and instructional communication. Her interpersonal and health communication scholarship centers on the ways in which individuals use communication to cope with chronic illnesses or life stressors and how interactants' communication influences their psychosocial outcomes. Her interpersonal and instructional communication scholarship focuses on instructor-student communication in the classroom, student adjustment to college, and assessment of student communication competency.

Dr. Farris earned the Abbi Prestin Dissertation of the Year Award in 2018 from the Health Communication Divisions of the International and National Communication Associations for her work exploring romantic partners’ supportive communication in the context of arthritic and rheumatic diseases. She has also received a number of top paper and top paper panel awards (in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, and 2018) from the Central States, Eastern, National, and International Communication Associations. Dr. Farris’s research appears in journal outlets such as: Communication Theory, the Journal of Family Communication, Journal of Adolescence, Basic Communication Course Annual, Higher Education, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication.

Dr. Farris is also a passionate and award-winning instructor. She earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020 and along with the COMM 1310 (Foundations of Human Communication) teaching team, was awarded with the National Communication Association’s Program of Distinction Award in 2010 and the Program of Excellence Award in 2011. Dr. Farris teaches large lecture sections of COMM 1310 and several other undergraduate courses including: communication theory, empirical research methods, practicum in instructional communication, and health communication. At the graduate level, Dr. Farris teaches courses in quantitative research methods, the dark side of communication, and instructional communication. Finally, Dr. Farris co-leads an Education Abroad trip each summer where graduate and undergraduate students take communication coursework in London and Paris.

Research Interests

Interpersonal and Health Communication
Interpersonal and Instructional Communication
Supportive Communication and Coping
Instructor-Student Communication
Student Adjustment to College