Rhetorical Leadership Lecture Series

Our goal is to have an annual research lecture related to Rhetorical Leadership presented on-campus by a nationally recognized rhetorical scholar.

In February, 2005, Professor James R. Andrews of Indiana University presented “Rhetorical Leadership and the Struggle for an Ethical Culture.” This lecture was based on the premise that civic and social values are largely shaped by history, tradition, sacred texts, and practical experience—all of which are interpreted and negotiated through the art of rhetoric. Therefore, Professor Andrews argued, rhetorical leadership can be said to have played a singular role in defining the shifting, elusive “American identity” as well as the ethical code that both molds and reflects this identity. He developed these ideas and their implications for an ethical society using the illustrations of the 1963 March on Washington and President Woodrow Wilson’s position on issues of race.

Professor Andrews, who is Professor Emeritus of Communication and Culture, American Studies, and Victorian Studies, is the author or co-author of seven books and scores of essays, many of which focus on the historical-critical investigation of American and British public discourse. His other research interests include the role of rhetoric in forming an “American” national identity and rhetoric and imperialism. The National Communication Association has honored Professor Andrews with the NCA Distinguished Scholar, the Douglas Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar, and the Winans-Wichelns Award. He also earned the Paul Boase Prize for Scholarship, a lifetime achievement award.

To see more photos of the 2005 event, click here.

On March 17, 2004, Professor G. Thomas Goodnight of University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication presented the inaugural lecture entitled “Rhetoric and Risk: Problems, Puzzles and Paradoxes.” He argued that the concept of risk structures public argument in the modern age. Professionals have to communicate with the client, institutional, and public levels to help people and institutions avoid, cope with, or change the nature of hazards. Before we can “manage” risk, Goodnight said, we must understand the role and flexibility of “risk” in contemporary public discourses. His presentation explored the communication strategies of initiative and containment and the challenges that they present. The examples used to illustrate centered on post-9/11 proof standards in discourse regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction and terrorist attacks.

Professor Goodnight publishes widely on argumentation and the public sphere, rhetorical theory, history and criticism, and argumentation and foreign policy debates. He has won the National Communication Association’s prestigious Woolbert and Golden Anniversary Monograph Awards for his scholarship. In 1999, the American Forensic Association named him one of the top five scholars in argumentation for the latter half of the 20th century. He has edited the journal Argumentation and Advocacy.

To see more photos of the 2004 event, click here.

Communication Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201
Johnston Hall Room 210 — Tel: 414-229-4261
2512 East Hartford Avenue
Please direct questions and comments to RL Program Coordinator
Updated on August 20, 2006