Speech Professor Josh Compton has been selected as one of 12 speech professors from a pool of applicants nationwide to attend the 2009 Brigance Colloquy on Public Speaking as a Liberal Art, an intensive two-day meeting where scholars will discuss the role of speech in a liberal arts curriculum. At the colloquy, scholars will examine the relationship between public speaking and democracy, exploring how speech courses can develop students’ willingness to learn from one another as a way of preparing them to join the public dialogue upon which a democratic society is built. Click here for more information on the colloquy.
Professor Compton’s paper for the colloquy addresses the responsibilities of the audience in public speaking, arguing that when speakers exclude audience considerations from the way they view and do public speaking, they reduce speech to linear, simple acts of recitation. Professor Compton looks forward to talking with his colleagues about the challenges and opportunities in speech education, adding, “My participation in this colloquy is a good opportunity to enrich the conversation about how Speech can continue to thrive in the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric and the Dartmouth community.”
