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Department of English Language and Literature

Directory

Pat J. Gehrke

Title: Professor
Department: English Language and Literature
McCausland College of Arts and Sciences
Email: gehrke@mailbox.sc.edu
Phone: 803-351-8852
Resources: English Language and Literature
profile

Education 

PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, Communication Arts and Sciences, 2003
MA, California State University at Chico, Communication Arts and Sciences, 1997
BA, California State University at Chico, Communication Arts and Sciences, 1995

Specialization 

Communication education, history of communication, public engagement (particularly regarding new and emerging technologies), communication ethics, and rhetorical theory.

Courses 

GRADUATE SEMINARS
   • Communication Pedagogy
   • Educating Dissent
   • Communication Ethics
   • Rhetoric, History, and Power
   • Rhetoric and Democracy

UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
   • Online Public Communication
   • Public Speaking Anxiety Reduction
   • Public Speaking
   • Business & Professional Communication
   • Small Group Communication
   • Public Communication & Civic Engagement
   • Rhetoric of Science and Technology
   • Communication Ethics

Accolades 

   • National Communication Association Presidential Citation for Service, 2016.
   • National Communication Association Presidential Citation for Service, 2015.
   • National Communication Ethics Conference, James A. Jaksa Scholar in Residence, 2014.
   • National Communication Association Philosophy of Communication Division Book Award, 2011.

Publications 

BOOKS & EDITED VOLUMES
  • Pat Gehrke & Megan Foley. Contemporary Public Speaking. New York: W.W. Norton, 2023.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. Nano-Publics: Communicating Nanotechnology Applications, Risks, & Regulations. New York: Palgrave, 2018.
   • Adam S. Lerner & Pat J. Gehrke. Organic Public Engagement: How Ecological Thinking Transforms Public Engagement with Science. New York: Palgrave, 2018.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. Online Public Communication. Irmo, SC: Basis Publishing, 2018, 2nd edition, 2024.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, ed. Teaching First-Year Communication Courses: Paradigms and Innovations. New York: Routledge, 2017.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, ed. Micro-Histories of Communication Studies: Mapping the Future of Communication through Local Narratives. New York: Routledge, 2016.
   • Pat J. Gehrke & William M. Keith, eds. The Unfinished Conversation: 100 Years of Communication Studies. Co-edited with William M. Keith. New York: Routledge, 2014.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. The Ethics and Politics of Speech: Communication and Rhetoric in the 20th Century. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2009.

RECENT ARTICLES & ESSAYS
   • Pat J. Gehrke. “Creating More Equitable Rubrics to Reduce Discrimination and Inequities in Public Speaking Courses.” Communication Teacher (in press, advance online publication posted July, 2024).
   • Pat J. Gehrke. “Online and Mediated Public Speaking.” In Stevie M. Munz, Tim McKenna-Buchanan, & Anna M. Wright, eds. The Routledge Handbook of Public Speaking Research and Theory. New York: Routledge, 2024. 373-381.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. “Ecological Validity.” In Bruce Frey, ed., SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. Thousand Oak, CA: SAGE, 2018.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. “Jurgen Habermas.” In Ronald C. Arnett, Annette M. Holba, and Susan Mancino, eds., An Encyclopedia of Communication Ethics. New York: Peter Lang, 2018.
   • Pat J. Gehrke. “The Fallacy of Reasoned Discourse.” Ethica 28 (March 16, 2017): 13-15.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, “A Manifesto for Teaching Public Speaking,” Review of Communication 16 (2016): 246-264.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, “What Rhetoric Can Do: Criticism as Critique.” The Effects of Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Effects: Past, Present, Future. Eds. Amos Kiewe & Davis W. Houck. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2015. 82-100.
   • Weston Eaton, Wynne Wright, Kyle Whyte, Stephen P. Gasteyer, & Pat J. Gehrke, “Engagement and Uncertainty: Emerging Technologies Challenge the Work of Engagement.” Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 18 (2014): 151-177.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, “Ecological Validity and the Study of Publics: The Case for Organic Public Engagement.” Public Understanding of Science 23 (2014): 77-91.
   • Pat J. Gehrke, “Before the One and the Other: Ethico-Political Communication and Community.” Philosophy of Communication Ethics: Alterity and the Other. Eds. Ronald C. Arnett & Pat Arneson. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2014. 55-73.
   • Pat J. Gehrke & William M. Keith, “A Brief History of the National Communication Association.” The Unfinished Conversation: 100 Years of Communication Studies. Eds. Pat J. Gehrke & William M. Keith. New York: Routledge, 2014. 1-25.

Other Information 

EXTERNAL GRANTS AWARDED
   • Enrichment of the Discipline Grant, National Communication Association. $4,743 (2011-2014). PI. Travel for PI and one co-PI to the communication archives at the University of Utah.
   • Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Team: Intuitive Toxicology, National Science Foundation, #06-595. $1,399,000 over 4 years (2007-2011). Co-PI / PI & Director of USC sub-award of $468,645.
   • Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education: Nanoscience and Technology Advocacy Studies Cognate, National Science Foundation, #05-543. $199,500 over 2 years (2005-2007). Investigator. Recruited to develop and teach pilot course for $9,257.

SELECT EDITORIAL SERVICE
   • Editorial Board, University of South Carolina Press series in Movement Rhetoric / Rhetoric’s Movements, 2020-present.
   • Editorial Board, Duquesne University Press series in Philosophy / Communication, 2013-2021.
   • Editor, Review of Communication, 2013-2016.
   • Editorial Board, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 2010-2014.
   • Editorial Board, Western Journal of Communication, 2012.
   • Editorial Board, Review of Communication, 2009-2012.


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