Communicating Successfully as Humans Age to be Focus of Faculty Research Award Lecture at UCSB

Howard Giles, UC Santa Barbara professor of communication, looks at the prospects and problems of communicating successfully as humans age in his Faculty Research Lecture on May 15 at 4 p.m. in the MultiCultural Center Theater.

His presentation, "Talking Age and Aging Talk: Intergroup and Intercultural Dimensions of Intergenerational Communication," is free and open to the public.

Giles received the 2005-06 Faculty Research Lectureship award earlier this academic year for his significant scholarship, its potential application to solving social problems, and his many contributions to the campus and the community.

It is one of the most prestigious awards bestowed on UCSB faculty members by their peers.

In addition to his leadership of professional societies, the British-born Giles has recently created the Center on Policy Practices and Community to study police-community relations.

It was partly an outgrowth of his scholarly interests in social psychology and language, but also rooted in nine years of service to the Santa Barbara Police Department as a reserve officer.

Giles studies intergroup communications in different domains, including interethnic, gay-straight, between-gender, and communication between physically challenged and able-bodied people.

His current research revolves around intergenerational communication, law enforcement and civilian interactions, and community policing issues.