An expert in family communication is this year's Association of Marquette University Women chair.
Kathleen Galvin is a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
Galvin received her doctorate from Northwestern in speech education. She has also taught counseling psychology and has been an associate dean in Northwestern's School of Communication.
Each year the AMUW selects a female academic to bring to campus to demonstrate the success of women around the academic world in research, teaching and publications. Every chair is required to teach one class each semester and give at least one public lecture on campus.
This semester Galvin will be teaching Advanced Interpersonal Communication. Her public lecture is scheduled for March 2007.
"I was attracted to Marquette a few years ago when I was on an external program review board," Galvin said. "I was very impressed (not only) with the school and its programs, but mainly with how happy the undergraduate students seemed to be here."
Over the past 35 years, Galvin has received numerous regional and national teaching awards and has penned eight books and more than 40 articles in scientific journals and encyclopedias.
Galvin said the most meaningful accomplishments in her academic career have been being one of the people who paved the way in the field of family communication and seeing how that area of research has expanded since the 1970s.
The field focuses on relationships between family members and how communication factors into those relationships.
"Dr. Galvin is clearly one of our most distinguished faculty, and she is universally respected by both students and faculty alike," said Peter Miller, department chair for communications studies at Northwestern's School of Communication.
The AMUW has a long history at Marquette. In 1909, Marquette was the first Jesuit university in the United States to admit female students, and in 1938 the Association of Marquette University Women met for the first time, according to a pamphlet on the history of the organization.
The AMUW was responsible for improving student housing for women by donating O'Donnell Hall, which was originally an all-women's dorm, to Marquette in the 1950s.
In return, the association requested that the university establish a special chair for a female professor and by 1963 the group raised $1.5 million to permanently endow the AMUW Chair in Humanistic Studies, according to the pamphlet.
The position was established to improve recognition of academic women around campus.
"The purpose (of the Humanities Chair) is to bring distinguished researchers and teachers with numerous academic publications to the Marquette campus," said Carla Hay, an associate professor of history and AMUW committee chair.
The AMUW also gives thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving female students, according to the pamphlet.