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Page Creator: Jennifer MacLennan

Web Consultant: Wade Grandoni

     The endowed Chair in Technical and Professional Communication in the College of Engineering is the result of the generosity of Mr. Daryl ("Doc") Seaman, a distinguished alumnus of the College and the founder of Bow Valley Industries of Calgary.  The mandate of the Chair is to work closely with the faculty and students of the College and with practising engineers to enhance the teaching, application, and understanding of communication among the engineering community. The Chair will also conduct research in communication and pilot advanced courses in the discipline. To read more about Mr. Seaman and the establishment of the Chair in Technical and Professional Communication, click here. 

What is Rhetorical Communication?
     Rhetoric, or the art of pragmatic communication, studies how human beings use symbolic means, especially language, to exert influence over each other. In other words, the study of rhetoric is the study of how human beings communicate in order to get things done, and as such it considers communication as both process and practice. As the rhetorical theorist Lloyd Bitzer explains, the goal of rhetorical discourse is "ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task. In short, rhetoric is a mode of altering reality." [Lloyd F. Bitzer, "The Rhetorical Situation" Philosophy and Rhetoric 1 (1968) 3-4.] In both theory and application, the study of rhetoric always involves the practical reasons why people communicate and the strategies they use to make their communication effective.
     The systematic study of human communication originated nearly 2500 years ago as a study of formal public speaking, particularly in courts of law. The oldest extant treatise on the subject is Aristotle's Rhetoric (circa 330 BCE). Like many modern treatments of rhetoric, Aristotle's book combines theory and application, offering practical advice on effective public communication along with analysis of the principles of communication. My favourite definition of rhetoric is that given by the theorist Donald C. Bryant: "Adjusting ideas to people and people to ideas." [Donald C. Bryant, "Rhetorical Dimensions in Criticism," Rhetorical Dimensions in Criticism (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State UP, 1973) 24-43] For more about rhetoric, click here.

What Do Rhetoricians Study?
     Although the study of rhetoric traditionally focused upon formal speeches as the paradigmatic type of public communication, the twentieth century has seen a broadening of the scope of rhetorical study, in part because methods of public communication have expanded with technological advances.  Public speeches, although still an important form of communication, are no longer the sole focus of rhetorical study. Modern and contemporary theorists such as Kenneth Burke, Marshall McLuhan, Barry Brummett, Wayne Booth, and Sonja Foss have broadened the study of rhetoric to include more diffuse, unconventional "texts" and a broader range of communicative strategies. Rhetoricians today are as likely to study mass communication, interpersonal exchanges, professional and technical writing and speaking, codes of behaviour and politeness, or the encoding of power  in architectural design, as they are to focus their scholarly attention on formal speeches. The rhetoric of science and technology,  electronic communication, health communication, disaster readiness communication, media and film studies, and cultural analysis are just some of the exciting fields available for rhetorical study at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Why a Rhetorician in a College of Engineering? 
     Although it may not seem so at first glance, a College of Engineering is in many ways an ideal environment for a rhetorician. Like the theoretical foundations of engineering, rhetorical theory is incomplete without a solid grounding in practice. Since both engineers and rhetoricians need to be able to apply the theories they study to find solutions to practical problems in the "real world" of human practice, the pragmatic, problem-solving orientation of engineering complements the rhetorician's approach to communication study. A rhetorician is interested in communication  as both process (the theories of communication) and practice (the ways in which people actually communicate in real situations).
     Given this combined interest in both the theory and the practice of communication, rhetoric -- the study and practice of pragmatic communication -- offers a foundation for the development of technical and professional writing and speaking skills, which are valued both by society at large and by employers who will hire our university graduates. It also enhances critical reading and analytical skills, and leads to an enriched understanding of human interaction, whether interpersonal, social, professional, political, or cultural.
     As D.K. Seaman Chair in Technical and Professional Communication in the College of Engineering, I look forward to revitalizing the study of communication in the College of Engineering and among engineering professionals through innovative professional development workshops, in-service training for faculty, and new curricular offerings for both graduates and undergraduates.

Some Sample Courses in Rhetoric
     From 1992-98, while at the University of Lethbridge, I piloted a whole series of courses in rhetoric and communication. Some of these were regular course offerings in the department of English, and some of them were special limited-enrollment project courses, taught in addition to my regular courseload. Over the next several years, I will be introducing similar courses at the senior level in the College of Engineering.

Regular Courses

• Communication Theory
• Rhetorical Theory
• Rhetoric and Professional Writing
• Rhetoric of Canadian Identity
• Rhetoric and Popular Culture
• Rhetorical Criticism
• Oratory

Special Course Projects

• Writing for Scholarly Conference Presentation
• Consulting and Workshop Design
• Teaching Rhetoric as a Rhetorical Act
• Writing a Public Speaking Handbook

If you're interested in reading more about these special project offerings, click here.
 

Education: 

• PhD (Rhetoric/Communication), U of Washington, Seattle, WA;
• MA (English), McMaster U, Hamilton, ON
• BA (Honours English), St. Francis Xavier U, Antigonish, NS

Research Interests:

• Rhetorical Foundations of Communication Practice

I have a longstanding interest in the relationship between theory and practice, which is particularly important to the pragmatic discipline of rhetoric. This work has been the subject of seven conference papers and a journal article to date, and will continue to be a research priority in my new position. 
• Rhetorical Dimensions in the Critical Theory of Northrop Frye I have begun a long-term research project, supported by a SSHRC funding grant, which will produce two books on rhetorical theory and strategy in Frye's work.
• Textual Voice and Ethos (Individual and Cultural)

My PhD dissertation, Margaret Atwood and the Speaking Text: A Theory of Voice for Written Discourse, explored the relationship between style and voice, using rhetorical theory to establish a model for studying the role and effect of voice in written discourse. I have also presented several conference papers on the subject. 

• Effective Business Communication, third edition (Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Canada, 1998)
• Public Speaking: Strategies for Success, Canadian edition [co-authored with David Zarefsky] (Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall Allyn & Bacon Canada, 1998)
• Effective Communication for the Helping Professions (forthcoming 1999).
• Inside Language: A Canadian Language Reader [co-authored with John Moffatt] (forthcoming, 1999).