Recent PhDs

Allyson Gross (2026)

Of Even Vaster Promise: Material Preservation and the Rhetoric of the Future
University of Texas-Austin

Ailea Merriam-Pigg (2026)

Marginalized Identity Play: Controversy in the Digital Public Sphere

Ali Rushevics (2026)

Constructing a Pacific Nation: Critical Interrogations of U.S. Imperialism  in Apology and Reparation Legislation
University of Colorado Boulder

Kai Prins (2025)

From Homo economicus to Homo emptor: Envisioning Neoliberal Subjects through Neoliberal Epideictic Advertising
Loyola Marymount University

Dominique Salas (2024)

Identifying a Traditionalism of the Past: Settler Colonialism and the Rhetoric of Mexicanness

Megan Zahay (2024)

The Authenticity Economy:  Negotiating Community Values and Content Monetization on YouTube
Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY)

Maryam Ahmadi (2023)

Semi-Colonial Rhetoric: Rhetorical Form at the Limits of the ‘Non-West
University of Georgia

Vipulya Chari (2023)

Imagining Digital India: Techno-Nationalism, Expertise, and Digital Development
City University of New York- Baruch College

Erin Gangstad (2023)

Of Mountain Air and Mineral Baths: Space, Place, and Rhetoric of Health and Medicine in 19th and 20th Century American Climatic Cure
Public Information Specialist, University of Washington

Kelly Jensen (2023)

Positioned to Choose: Reckoning with Racial Privilege in Progressive White Parents’ School Choice Discourse
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Liam Randall (2022)

The Temporality of Carceral Education: Race, Disability, and Progress at Madison Metropolitan School District
North Central Michigan College

Amanda Friz (2020)

Sex as Assemblage: Women’s Sexuality, Medical Science, and Networked Discussions of Health
University of Washington

Kevin Musgrave (2019)

Creating the Corporate Person: Individualism in an Age of Corporate Capitalism
Southeast Missouri State University

KC Barry Councilor (2018)

Digesting Difference: Immigration, Race, and Assimilation in the U.S. Body Politic
Southern Connecticut State

Whitney Gent (2018)

The Rhetorical Circulation of the Housing First Model in the United States
University of Nebraska-Omaha

Kenneth Lythgoe (2018)

Not Just Any Port in a Storm: A Study of Global Gay Rights Rhetoric across Transnational Contexts
Madison College

Elizabeth Barr (2017)

Queer traces: counterpublic memories of scientific AIDS activism
NIH- Office of Research on Women’s Health

Olivia Conti (2017)

Advocacy on the electronic frontier: vernacular legal expertise in the discourse of digital rights
Twitch- Senior Product Manager

Andrew Peck (2017)

The memetic vernacular: everyday argument in the digital age
Miami University

Emily Sauter (2016)

A modern miracle: South African national identity and transnational discourses of democracy
Minnesota State University-Mankato

Ling Yang (2016)

Soong Mayling’s 1943 American speech tour: a study in the rhetoric of public diplomacy
Ginling College, China

Ashley Hinck (2015)

Fan-based Performances of Citizenship: Fandom, Public Engagement, and Politics
Xavier University

Casey Schmitt (2015)

The Hiker and the Trail: Rhetoric and Implacement in Designated Natural Areas
Gonzaga University