Steve Giles, Ph.D.

Steve Giles is a Consultant for the Hayes Group who specializes in communication competence, influencing strategies, and conflict resolution. He is currently an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

During his graduate studies, Steve was a licensed juvenile mediator in the Toledo, Ohio court system, concentrated his doctoral studies around communication competence, especially in relation to patient-provider communication, and evaluated a middle school-based substance use prevention program.

His research program and publications reflect his varied interests in the field of health communication His journal articles address program implementation in substance use interventions, and the influence of peers and media on body image and eating behavior. Steve is currently working on two projects. One project involves the development of a measure of mindfulness in interpersonal interactions. The other is an experiment designed to test the role of mindfulness on the regulation of emotion (heart rate variability) and comforting behavior during a stressful communication encounter. Steve hopes to apply this research to medical contexts, where stress and emotion often hinder efforts to express empathy to patients and families.

Steve has received a number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, and has taught graduate and undergraduate classes on health communication, communication campaigns, ethics, persuasion, interpersonal communication, small group and organizational communication, and research methods. Steve regularly leads service-learning trips to Nicaragua, and was a resident professor of a program in Vienna, Austria.

Steve graduated with a BA in communication and English from Northern Kentucky University. He received his MA in interpersonal communication from Bowling Green State University and his PhD in communication from the University of Kentucky.