Day and night, we might greet our friends, speak with mentors, or argue with family. No matter what we do, communication is happening all around.
For Jeanne Flora, a New Mexico State University communication professor and the NMSU Global Program Coordinator for the Department of Communication Studies, these everyday interactions are more than noise, they directly affect mental and physical well-being.
Flora, who joined NMSU in 2009, bridges the gap between academic research and everyday life through her two recently published textbooks: "Family Communication" and “Conflict and Communication.” Co-written with longtime mentor and collaborator Chris Segrin, a communication professor at the University of Arizona, these textbooks cover over 3,000 resources and explore practical solutions to various communication scenarios.
In its fourth edition, “Family Communication” is a graduate-level textbook on how to navigate communication in several types of relationships, such as parent-child, siblings, extended family and even marriage and romantic relationships.
The book not only addresses various family and relationship stressors, but it also discusses the toll that certain forms of conflict and styles of communication can have on a person's mental and physical health.
"This book has given me so much appreciation for how the field of communication has grown. Each time we release a new edition, we feature new research findings and new actionable skills that we can teach to people," Flora said. "When we wrote the first edition of this book that came out in 2005, we didn't even have a section on dating apps and online dating because it wasn't even really a thing."
While the "Family Communication" textbook is primarily aimed at graduate students, researchers, and practitioners both nationally and internationally, Flora and Segrin's second book, "Conflict and Communication," targets undergraduate students. Flora said this was especially exciting not only because she was reaching a new audience, but because she had to learn how to translate complex terms into accessible language.
The conflict text focuses on helping students navigate difficult conversations across intimate relationships, workplace environments and diverse social settings. Flora said this book addresses the common disconnect between intent and actual behavior.
"For a long time in conflict research, there was a lot of focus on, 'Well, if we can just equip people with more emotional intelligence or empathy, then they'll be able to get along better,'" she said. "Those things are incredibly important. But they're kind of in your head. We're really interested in giving people practical, actionable forms of messaging – things they can actually say."
Flora mentioned that this book is her way of conveying how critical it is to have strong communication skills. She argues that the same amount of time spent learning how to drive or how to play a sport should also be spent learning how to communicate in different relationships and situations.
"A lot of people call these communication skills ‘soft skills.’ And I think these soft skills matter more than ever in this era," Flora said. "These soft skills are just so incredibly enduring — we are always going to need to know how to manage conflict and how to connect in our close relationships."
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CUTLINE: Jeanne Flora, a communication studies professor at New Mexico State University and NMSU Global Program Coordinator for the Department of Communication Studies, co-authors two national textbooks, “Family Communication,” 4th edition (2026) and “Conflict and Communication” (2027). (Courtesy Image)