The Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) is an academic organization for the study of

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

. The Society's constitution calls for it to research

in all relevant fields of study, identify new areas of study, encourage experimentation in teaching rhetoric, facilitate professional cooperation and to sponsor the publication of such materials dealing with rhetoric." The Society is composed of scholars from various disciplines who study rhetoric's history, theory, public practice, and pedagogical methods. The RSA was established in 1968, by directors that included Edward P. J. Corbett, Wayne C. Booth and Richard Hughes, introducing innovative programs and courses in rhetoric. In 2008, the

American Council of Learned Societies The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a private, nonprofit federation of 75 scholarly organizations in the humanities and related social sciences founded in 1919. It is best known for its fellowship competitions which provide a ra ...

(ACLS) accepted the Rhetoric Society of America as its 70th member

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

. The learned societies of ACLS are national or international organizations in the humanities and related social sciences, accepted on the basis of their "substantial, distinctive, and distinguished contribution" to humanistic scholarship. In her book ''Authoring a Discipline: Scholarly Journals and the Post-World War II Emergence of Rhetoric and Composition'', Maureen Daly Goggin writes that:

Publications

The ''Rhetoric Society Quarterly'' is the organization's official journal. Published four times a year, it features original articles on all areas of rhetorical studies, intended for an interdisciplinary audience of scholars and students who work in communication studies, English studies, philosophy, politics and other fields. It awards its Charles Kneupper Award for the best article of the year. An associate professor at the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...

, Kneupper organized the society's national conferences until his death in 1989. The Society also operates the Blogora, a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

for "connecting rhetoric, rhetorical methods and theories, and rhetoricians with public life," hosted by the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Current and past presidents

Its current president is Vanessa Beasley, President of Trinity University. Past presidents include Michelle Ballif (2020-2022), Gerald A. Hauser (2002–2003), Professor of Communication at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

, Patricia Bizzell (2004–2005), Professor of English and Chairperson of the English Department at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

, and David Zarefsky (2006–2007), Owen L. Coon Professor of Communication Studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

References

External links

Paraphrase Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhetoric Society Of America Academic organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1968 Rhetoric Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies Learned societies of the United States