Courses

Faculty in Rhetoric and Communication Studies marry scholarship and teaching, recognizing active, ongoing research and intellectual inquiry grounds genuine learning inside and outside the classroom. Faculty theorize about and analyze various forms of symbolic action-media, rhetoric, and relational dynamics-and treat subjects including elective politics, law, social protest, globalization, history, conflict and negotiation, and culture, the latter including public memory, consumerism, identity formation, gender, race, and class.

Theoretical expertise ranges from antiquity to post-modernity in the Western tradition. Methodological approaches include critical, critical/cultural, qualitative, and quantitative. RHCS professors mentor scholarly writing, foster intellectual exchange, promote performative agility, and encourage interdisciplinary exploration and discovery.

• RHCS faculty view communication in a general liberal arts education to include, but not be limited to, the facility, in a variety of contexts to:
• Analyze and speak extemporaneously on various public issues with clarity and informative and/or persuasive art
• Report complex findings in a manner accessible to lay persons and appropriate to intellectual communities of their origination
• Field interrogation in various venues thoughtfully, ethically, persuasively, or with other purposes
• Manage conflict with an analytical eye towards reaching negotiation and resolution, or other ethical purposes
• Identify, analyze, and/or critique public expressions of individual or collective identities and dominant ideologies as well as various public challenges to them
• Present prepared addresses on various occasions, which may entail informative, persuasive, ceremonial, or other purposes.
• Become sophisticated analytical audiences of public discourse and other forms of symbolism, which includes judiciousness in assessing arguments, emotional appeals, and other strategic choices, and recognizing the potency of visual rhetoric for various audiences.
• Develop acumen in assessing communicative dynamics in various interpersonal or group settings for varied purposes, which might include alleviating misunderstandings or correcting insufficient or overly complex communicative patterns so as to promote good ends.

Most courses are considered either a rhetoric or communication studies course. Check major and minor requirements and upcoming courses for more information.

Rhetoric and Communication Studies