Wabash College Rhetoric professor Sara Drury will receive the Outstanding New Teacher award from the Central States Communication Association (CSCA) at the group’s convention in Grand Rapids, MI, April 13-17.
The award recognizes individuals early in their professional career (first five years of full-time teaching) who show distinction as teachers. The award has been presented annually since 1989.
“Sara’s attention to the details of teaching—reflection on the structure of her courses, engagement with the scholarship of teaching and learning, and revision and experimentation—demonstrates her to be a teacher who seeks constant improvement,” said Todd McDorman, Professor of Rhetoric and Senior Associate Dean of the College. Sara is truly a teacher of distinction, a gifted colleague who has excelled as a teacher in the classroom, in leading students on individual and community projects, and across the Wabash College campus.”
In addition to Drury’s award, both students and faculty will present multiple papers at the convention. Connor Rice ’17 and Jack Kellerman ’18 will deliver a paper co-authored with Drury, titled “Promoting Issue Learning and Technical Argumentation in Public Deliberation;” Kyle Stucker ’17 also will present a paper co-authored with Drury, titled “Prudence as Expertise in Deliberations on Energy Policy;” while Adam Burtner ’17 will deliver a paper, titled “The Rhetorical Self-Defense of Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court Nomination Hearing.”
“These students have worked hard on developing their research projects, and we are thrilled to have four students representing the Wabash College Rhetoric Department,” said Drury. “It’s significant that two of these projects represent the type of interdisciplinary learning that is so much a part of a Wabash College liberal arts education. Both Kyle’s and Connor and Jack’s projects come out of collaborative deliberation projects between myself and faculty in biology and chemistry within our summer research internship program.”
Further, Drury will present a paper on teaching ancient Chinese rhetoric, “Bringing the East into Conversation with the West: Teaching Ancient Chinese Rhetoric, while fellow Assistant Professor of Rhetoric Je
ff Drury will deliver a paper titled, “Telling Skutnik’s Story: Agency, Politics, and the 1982 State of the Union Address.”
The CSCA is a professional, academic organization of primary and secondary school teachers, students, college and university professors, and communication professionals representing 13 Midwestern states. It was founded in 1931 to promote the communication discipline in educational, scholarly, and professional endeavors.