Kathryn M. Olson
Professor
Director, Rhetorical Leadership Graduate Certificate/Concentration Program
Office: Johnston Hall, Room 225
Phone: 414-229-6396 or 4261
e-mail: kolson@uwm.edu
Curriculum Vita: PDF
Degrees:
Ph.D., Communication Studies, Northwestern University
M.A., Speech Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.A., Communication, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Research Interests:
My research uses rhetorical criticism and argumentation to examine American texts, issues, movements, images, and debates with public consequences. I am interested in empowering critical citizens.
Teaching Interests/Courses Recently Taught:
Commun 103: Public Speaking
Commun 362: Theory and Practice of Argumentation and Debate
Commun 667: Great American Speakers and Issues (1945 - Present)
Commun 672: Communication and Social Order
Commun 772: Rhetorical Leadership and Ethics
Commun 872: Rhetorics of Constituting Communities and Social Controversy
Commun 882: The Rhetoric of Kenneth Burke
Selected Media Interviews/Stories:
Interviewed regarding the language in the Wisconsin budget controversy by Bob Bach from WUWM, Milwaukee Public Radio, for “Morning Edition,” March 9, 2011. Aired March 14, 2011, http://www.wuwm.com/media/news/news_031411101504.mp3
Ripon College’s 2010 “Forum on Ethics and Oratory” Scholar, http://www.ripon.edu/news/magazine/Spring2010/RiponMagazine_Spring2010.pdf, p. 11
Interviewed regarding President Obama’s Inaugural Address for WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio’s live version of “Lake Effect,” January 20, 2009. http://www.wuwm.com/programs/lake_effect/view_le.php?articleid=634
Interviewed by Joy Cardine regarding the third presidential debate between McCain and Obama on the “Ideas Network” of Wisconsin Public Radio, October 16, 2008. http://wpr.org/ideas/programnotes.cfm (Segment 10-16B)
Interviewed after the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama by Alexandra Marks from The Christian Science Monitor, September 26, 2008; cited in Alexandra Marks, “In McCain-Obama Debate: A Clash of Two Visions,” The Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2008. http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/09/27/in-mccain-obama-debate-a-clash-of-two-visions/
Interviewed regarding the upcoming first presidential debate between McCain and Obama by Alexandra Marks from The Christian Science Monitor, September 23, 2008; cited in Alexandra Marks, “McCain-Obama Debate: A Game-changing Face-off?” The Christian Science Monitor, September 26, 2008. http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/09/26/mccain-obama-debate-a-game-changing-face-off/
Webinar Panelist, “Do Presidential Debates Matter in Contemporary Politics?” sponsored by NCA’s Research Board, September 23, 2008. Archived at https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2008-09-23.0948.D.56E70C06101CEAA9D9AD280BB2729A.vcr
Selected Publications:
Olson, Kathryn M., Michael William Pfau, Benjamin Ponder, and Kirt H. Wilson. Making the Case: Advocacy and Judgment in Public Argument. (Book manuscript accepted at Michigan State University Press; projected publication 2012).
Olson, Kathryn M. “‘Get Motivated!’: How the New Prosperity Gospel Operates.” (Accepted for the 2011 Alta Argumentation Conference Proceedings).
Olson, Kathryn M. “Intransigence and Self-Justification as a Political Way of Life.” In Venomous Speech and Other Problems in American Political Discourse [working title], edited by J. Clarke Rountree. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger (book under contract; chapter accepted September 2011)
Olson, Kathryn M. “Rethinking Loci Communes and Burkean Transcendence: Rhetorical Leadership While Contesting Change in the Takeover Struggle Between AirTran and Midwest Airlines.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 23 (2009): 28-60.
Olson, Kathryn M. “The Practical Importance of Inherency Analysis for Public Advocates: Rhetorical Leadership in Framing a Supportive Social Climate for Education Reforms.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 36 (2008): 219-241.
Olson, Kathryn M. “Rhetorical Leadership and Transferable Lessons for Successful Social Advocacy in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.” Argumentation and Advocacy 44 (2007): 90-109.
Olson, Kathryn M. “The Comic Strategy of ‘Deferral to Study:’ Creating Space in Divisive Religious Disputes to Value Both Community and Convictions.” Journal of Communication and Religion 30 (2007): 266-307.
Goodnight, G. Thomas, and Kathryn M. Olson. "Shared Power, Foreign Policy, and Haiti, 1994: Public Memories of War and Race." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 9 (2006): 601-634.
Guest Editor, Special 2005 Issue of Argumentation and Advocacy on the 2004 political debates
Olson, Kathryn M. "Democratic Enlargement's Value Hierarchy and Rhetorical Forms: An Analysis of Clinton's Exercise of a Post-Cold War Symbolic Frame to Justify Military Interventions." Presidential Studies Quarterly 34 (2004): 307-340.
Olson, Kathryn M., and Clark D. Olson. "Beyond Strategy: A Reader-Centered Analysis of Irony's Dual Persuasive Uses." Quarterly Journal of Speech 90 (2004): 24-52. (2005 NCA Golden Monograph Award)
Olson, Kathryn M., and G. Thomas Goodnight. "Speaking in Community and Ingenium: The Case of the Prince William County Zoning Hearings on Disney's America." In New Approaches to Rhetoric, edited by Patricia Sullivan and Stephen R. Goldzwig, 31-59. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004. (2005 AFA Daniel Rohrer Research Award)