About Dr. de Velasco

A teacher of rhetoric, Tony de Velasco works within a scholarly tradition more than 2,000 years in the making. His books include Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency (2010), Rhetoric: Concord and Controversy (2012, co-edited) and Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy: The Living Art of Michael C. Leff (2016, co-edited).

His work appears in venues such as Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, Southern Communication Journal, the Commercial Appeal, and MLK50: Justice Through Journalism.

He has received numerous honors, including the Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award (2011), the College of Communication and Fine Arts Dean's Outstanding Research Award (2013) and the Faudree University Professorship (2019).

Since arriving to the Department of Communication and Film in 2005, he has directed eight doctoral dissertations and five MA projects to completion, and served on more than thirty successful PhD and MA committees.

In 2012, he directed the 13th Biennial Public Address Conference, while in 2018 he directed the King, Communication, & the Legacy of Civil Rights conference.

He served as Faculty Senator from 2010 to 2012, Director of Graduate Studies from 2013 to 2019, and has been appointed to numerous University-wide committees, including the President's Faculty Athletic Committee (2016-) and the University Quality Enhancement Plan Committee (2014-2015).

Education

PhD, Emory University
BA, Guilford College

Experience

Professional

Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Memphis, 2011-present
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of Memphis, 2005-2011

Administrative

Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communication, University of Memphis, 2013-2019

Honors and Awards

Faudree University Professorship, 2019
College of Communication and Fine Arts Dean's Outstanding Research Award, 2013
University of Memphis Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award, 2011

Research and Scholarly Activities

Research Interests

Rhetoric and Social Theory; U.S. Political Discourse; Rhetorical Pedagogy

Publications

"'I'm a Southerner, too': Black Southern Counterpublics and Confederate Monuments in Memphis, Tennessee. Southern Communication Journal 84.4, (2019), 233-245.

Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy: The Living Art of Michael C. Leff (with John Angus Campbell and David Henry) (Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2016)

Rhetoric: Concord and Controversy (with Melody Lehn) (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2011).

Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010)

(with Michael C. Leff) "Rhetoric" in Kristen Malmkjær, ed. The Routledge Linguistics Encyclopedia. (London: Routledge, 2009), 456-61.

"Transgressive Eloquence: bell hooks, Cicero and the Aims of Rhetorical Pedagogy." Sizing Up Rhetoric. David Zarefsky and Elizabeth Benacka, eds. (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2007), 393-7.

"Rethinking Perelman's Universal Audience: Political Dimensions of a Controversial Concept." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 35.2 (Spring 2005), 47-64.

Regional Lectures

"Strategies of Appreciation: Controversy, Surprise, and Student Engagement." Indiana University's 18th Annual Preparing Future Faculty Conference, Bloomington, Indiana, February, 2013

Grants

University Faculty Research Grant in the Arts and Humanities, 2007
College of Communication and Fine Arts' New Faculty Research Grant, 2006

Resources

Graduate Students

Noor Ghazal Aswad 
Henri Giles
Kaitlin Graves
Adam Hughes
Jonathan Smith

Service

Faculty Athletic Committee, 2016
University Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs Task Force, 2014-15
University Council on Graduate Studies, 2014-2017
College of Communication and Fine Arts Graduate Council, 2014-2019
University Quality Enhancement Plan Committee (for Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reaccreditation), 2014-15
University Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award Committee, 2011-2018