Richard West, a professor in Emerson’s communication studies department, and Lynn Turner, chair of communication studies at Marquette University in Wisconsin, have received the National Communication Association’s Bernard J. Brommel Award for Outstanding Scholarship or Distinguished Service in Family Communication. 

Each year, the NCA gives out 26 awards honoring a variety of work in the communication disciplines, according to its website.  Turner and West, both former presidents of the association, are being recognized for their research in how different types of families communicate about culture and technology.

This is the first time since the award was introduced in 1997 that two people have received it together, according to the NCA.

“Two years ago, I stood on the stage shaking hands with the Brommel award winner thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this would be cool if I won this event,’” West said.

Turner and West’s research in the LGBTQ family community began in 1995 when they met at a conference at Miami University in Ohio. The work was pioneering for the time, according to West.

“We were the very first people talking about this family type,” West said. 

West and Turner have collaborated on 11 books about interpersonal communication and are currently working on their next endeavor, the history of communication.