Homchick earned her PhD in Communication-Rhetorical Studies from the University of Washington. She has further enhanced her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, the National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Seminar, the Rhetoric Society of America Summer Institute, and the Ischia Summer School on the History of the Life Sciences (which was sponsored by Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute, and the Institute for the History of Medicine in Geneva).
Homchick's research interests include democracy, objectivity, and the public understanding of science. Her interest in the rhetoric of space and the rhetoric of science contributed to her study of the creationist-evolutionist controversy, resulting in a comparison of the evolution display at the American Museum of Natural History with the space of The Creation Museum in Kentucky (two spaces that she "read" for us during her talk here at Dartmouth). She plans to continue this research through a book project while at Dartmouth entitled, Displaying Genesis: A Journey through the Creation Science Museums of America.
Homchick is currently at work on three other projects: co-authoring a piece on lines of argument in creation science with William Keith (U. Wisconsin - Milwaukee) for Keywords and Controversies in the Rhetoric of Science and Technology, writing an article for a special issue of Science and Education on the Darwinian anniversary, and co-authoring a piece with Greg Schneider (U. Minnesota) on museum exhibits. Her research has been presented at the Rhetoric Society of America, the Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology, the National Communication Association, the History of Science Society, the Society for the Social Studies of Science, and the Western States Communication Association.
At the University of Washington, Homchick taught courses in argumentation, persuasion, public speaking, environmental communication, public health communication, interviewing, history of science, and history of technology. At Dartmouth she will teach Argumentation, Public Speaking, and Environmental Rhetoric. These courses will complement the speech courses taught by Josh Compton: Public Speaking, Persuasion, and Speech Writing. They will also enrich the Institute's upper-level course offerings, which include Composition Theory and Practice, Writing with Media, The Written Judicial Opinion, and The Art of Science Writing.
We are very pleased to welcome Julie Homchick to the Institute.
