Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter (Ph.D., Kent State University, 2002) is an assistant dean of international affairs for the College of Media and Communication. She is an associate professor in the department of communication studies at Texas Tech University. Narissra teaches interpersonal communication, gender, nonverbal, and romantic relationships. Dr. Punyanunt-Carter's research interests include romantic relationships, computer-mediated communication, father-daughter communication, and mass media portrayals of romance. She is a consultant for several book publishers, such as Bedford St. Martin’s, Rowan & Littlefield, Oxford, McGraw-Hill, and Wadsworth. She has published many articles, which have been featured in Southern Communication Journal, Howard Journal of Communication, Communication Research Reports, and Communication Quarterly. She has devoted an extraordinary amount of work towards her discipline, department, the university, and the community of Lubbock. She has served as a permanent or ad-hoc reviewer for ten different peer-reviewed journals. She has been an advisor for over 5 different Texas Tech University student organizations and one national honor society. She was awarded Advisor of the Year 2013 by the (NSCS) National Society of Collegiate Scholars (honor society). She is the TTU advisor for Delta Phi Omega and Delta Epsilon Psi (the first sorority and fraternity for Asian Americans respectively). She has published 9 book chapters, 60 journal articles, and 1 book review, with 3 books. She has been listed as a lead article many times. Also in this time, she has received a top paper award at a regional conference. She has served as a mentor for Mentor Tech (for 14 years) as well as the Teaching, learning, professional and developmental center (TLPDC). She is the Chair of the Family Communication Division and is the Past Chair of the Mass Communication Division of the National Communication Association. In 2014, she was awarded by the Honors College as the “Faculty of the Year”! Recently, she was awarded Texas Tech University’s Professing Excellence Award.
