My Research
My scholarly expertise concerns advocacy and political discourse. I have particular interest in what political argumentation means for the role and value of citizen participation, especially as it relates to how rhetors speak for or represent citizens and their belief . I have researched various topics, ranging from how contemporary presidents invoke public opinion to the rhetorical efforts to mobilize the 1960s student movement to messages about civility in a popular musical.
Significant Publications
- I published a co-edited volume (with Sara A. Mehltretter Drury), Rhetoric, Politics, and Hamilton: An American Musical, with Peter Lang in 2021. The book features 11 chapters analyzing the rhetoric of and surrounding the musical in relation to themes of public memory, social identity, and democratic change.
- I published my argumentation textbook, Argumentation in Everyday Life, with SAGE Publications, Inc. in 2019. It’s a great text for introductory courses in argumentation and debate. For more information about the book, click here.
- I published my first book, Speaking with the People’s Voice, a study of presidential rhetoric and public opinion, with Texas A&M University Press in 2014. For more information about the book, click here.
- I encouraged scholars to expand the concept of "rhetorical agency" in an article, entitled "Beyond 'Rhetorical Agency,'" published in the Western Journal of Communication that uses a case study of how Reagan came to recognize Lenny Skutnik in the 1982 State of the Union Address.
- Contributing the concept of "rogue ethos," I published an analysis of NJ Governor Chris Christie's rhetoric, entitled "The Rhetoric of Rogue Ethos: Chris Christie’s Swing from 'Boss' to 'Bully,'" in the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric.
- I have published two essays with Voices of Democracy, an online journal dedicated to significant speeches from U.S. history:
- In 2017, I co-authored a unit with Cole Crouch, Wabash College class of 2017, on Robert F. Kennedy's speeches in Indianapolis and Cleveland responding to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
- In 2009, I wrote an essay analyzing the social movement strategies in a speech that then-president of Students for a Democratic Society Paul Potter delivered at an anti-Vietnam War march on Washington on April 17, 1965.
