- renegarv@southwestern.edu
- 512.863.1061
- Olin 310
Valerie Renegar
Professor of Communication Studies
Expertise
Rhetorical theory and criticism, feminist movements, third wave feminism, environmental rhetoric, Kenneth Burke.
I believe that the best teachers are engaged and interested in both their students and the content of their courses. In my quest to be an outstanding teacher, I have sought to embody a teacher-scholar model of education. My research agenda enhances my teaching because I am actively engaged in the same process of critical inquiry that I teach and my teaching informs my research by allowing me to see areas of interest to the students or areas that have been under theorized in the status quo. The research projects, journal articles, and conference papers that comprise my professional development are also useful to my students as examples of new directions in the field of rhetorical and communication theory. In other words, my research and teaching goals are reciprocal and serve to enhance one another. As a member of the Southwestern University faculty, I endeavor to be a notable teacher and scholar.
I fundamentally believe that the university experience should educate individuals in more than just the subject area of their courses. My goal as a teacher is to help our students to think critically about communication and the world around them. My courses are based on the idea that we must question tradition, convention, and popular wisdom to uncover its roots and assumptions. This critical posture is essential to the field of communication, but is also an important life skill. My teaching philosophy is rooted in the idea that a university education should equip students with critical thinking skills that will enable them to be concerned, interested, and active citizens. I seek to develop students’ critical thinking skills so that they can approach any problem with more intellect and finesse. My expertise in rhetorical theory, especially its dimensions of feminist, environmental, and critical theory allows me to empower students with the knowledge necessary to develop a more critical consciousness. I encourage students to look deeper, think more critically, and ask more questions about the things that often go unquestioned. If our students begin asking, “Why is that the way it is?” more often, I hope they will begin to see the ways in which communication plays a fundamental role in the establishment and reification of our culture. I also seek to invest students with the understanding that our culture is a product of our practice, and that activism is within their reach. Individual agency and a sense of empowerment stem from the understanding that our culture is malleable and has shifted substantially over time. Students who develop this sense of agency are then able to be actively involved in the creation of a more just, equitable, and humane society.
Education
PhD, University of Kansas 2000
MA, Kansas State University 1997
BA, University of Notre Dame 1993
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