Denise M. Bostdorff

Professor of Communication and Associate Dean for the Class of 2012

Department/Affiliation: Department of Communication Studies
Phone: 330-263-2030
Office Address: Wishart Hall, Room 103
Email: dbostdorff@wooster.edu

Degrees

B.S. Bowling Green State University 1982

M.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1983

Ph.D. Purdue University 1987

Areas of Research Focus

Author of two scholarly books, The Presidency and the Rhetoric of Foreign Crisis and Proclaiming the Truman Doctrine: The Cold War Call to Arms, as well as over two dozen scholarly essays, primarily on presidential foreign policy rhetoric from Truman to Obama.

Courses Taught

IDPT 101 First Year Seminar

IDPT 390 Leadership and Liberal Learning

COMM 152 Public Speaking

COMM 250 Principles of Rhetoric

COMM 252 Argumentation

COMM 254 Political Rhetoric

COMM 352 Rhetorical Criticism

COMM 401 Junior Independent Study

COMM 451, 452 Senior Independent Study

I.S. Projects Supervised

Becca Niemeyer, "An Agenda for Change: A Burkean Pentadic Analysis of
Barack Obama's Speech, 'A More Perfect Union.'"

Kelly Wisniewski, "The Ultimate Escape Is Not Just Talk: A Rhetorical
Analysis of Three Ecotourism Websites and an Ethnography of an Actual
Ecotour in the Turks and Caicos Islands."

Joe Besl, "Swifter, Higher, Stronger, Shadier: A Generic Criticism of
Bid Books Submitted by Applicant Host Cities to the International
Olympic Committee for the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Games."

Elizabeth Hoy, "An Inconvenient Love: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of the
1990s British Romantic Comedies Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sliding
Doors, and Notting Hill."

Awards

-W. Charles Redding Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Purdue University. April 1994.

-School of Liberal Arts Departmental Award for Educational Excellence. $300.
Purdue University. December 1994.

-Advisor of “Chapter of the Year” for Lambda Pi Eta, the national communication honor society. Awarded to The College of Wooster’s Lambda Chapter. $200 chapter award. National Communication Association. November 1997.

-Selected as Inaugural Partner in Communicating Common Ground (CCG) Service Learning Program Sponsored by the National Communication Association, the American Association for Higher Education, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Campus Compact. August 2000.

-National Speakers Association’s Jeanne Robertson Outstanding Communication Professor Award. $2000. October 2000.

-Inclusion in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2003, 2004, 2005, on basis of unsolicited nominations by former students.