Allison Thorson

Allison Thorson is a Professor of Communication Studies and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of San Francisco. She also serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Children and Youth and Director of the Child and Youth Studies Minor. Her research focuses on communication strategies in families facing taboo or non-normative events, such as parental infidelity, and underexplored relationships like work-spouse dynamics. She teaches courses in family communication, interpersonal communication, and research methods.

Thorson holds a PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2009), an MA in Communication and Mass Media from Missouri State University (2001), and a BA in Communication/Public Relations from the University of Northern Iowa (2000). She has received awards including the Central States Communication Association’s Top Four Paper Award (2021) and the Milton Dickens Award for Empirical Research (2016).

Her research emphasizes how families manage relational well-being through communication in crises, with recent work exploring pandemic impacts on international students and the role of apology in post-infidelity parent-child relationships. She actively contributes to professional organizations like the National Communication Association and has authored/co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed articles in top journals.

• Key Appointments: Gerontology Minor Director, Committee Member on Aging, and former Central States Communication Association executive committee member
• Research Grants: Not explicitly listed but implied through publication outputs
• Labs/Teams: Interdisciplinary committees focused on youth and aging studies