Ralph LaRossa is Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University and the author of Conflict and Power in Marriage: Expecting the First Child; Transition to Parenthood: How Infants Change Families (with Maureen Mulligan LaRossa); Becoming a Parent; The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political History; and Of War and Men: World War II in the Lives of Fathers and Their Families. He is also the editor of Family Case Studies: A Sociological Perspective, and a co-editor of the Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methods: A Contextual Approach (with Pauline Boss, William Doherty, Walter Schumm, and Suzanne Steinmetz). Dr. LaRossa has received grants from the National Science Foundation (principal investigator) and National Institutes of Health (co-investigator) in support of research on the social realities of fatherhood during the Machine Age (1918-1941) and on the experience of becoming a father in contemporary society.

Lawrence H. Ganong, Ph.D., is Professor of Nursing and Human Development and Family Studies. Ganong has been at MU for nearly 30 years. He is a leading authority on remarriage and stepfamily dynamics, having conducted research on stepfamilies for over three decades. He has authored or co-authored seven books and over 180 articles and book chapters. Many of these publications were written with his wife and colleague, Marilyn Coleman. In addition to publishing in academic journals, Ganong has written for popular magazines and conducted many workshops about remarriage and stepparenting in the United States and Great Britain.

Ganong has a joint appointment between Nursing and Human development and Family Studies. His research interests are multidisciplinary. Consequently, he has published his research in the journals of several disciplines, including nursing, family studies, psychology, sociology, health education, and counseling.