Current Course Offerings:
COMM 241: Persuasive Communication
COMM 295: American Public Address
COMM 295: Rhetoric of Religion
COMM 380: Gender and Communication
COMM 455: Rhetorical Criicism
Specialties:
Classical Rhetoric
Political and Cultural Oratory
Rhetorics of Religion
Existentialism
The work of Kenneth Burke
Professional Information:
Zac joined the Communication Studies department in 2008. His research examines the evolution of rhetorical theory and practice in Western intellectual history, focusing in particular on its relationship to philosophy and theology. His work on existentialism suggests that rhetoric functions as an orientation towards the world grounded in the ontological aspects of human communication. Zac is also working toward conceiving edification, originally mapped out by Soren Kierkegaard, as a species of rhetorical discourse. He has presented at a variety of conferences on rhetorical theory and criticism and received the Robert Bostrom Young Scholar award at the Southern States Communication Conference in 2006 for his work on Mark Twain's theory of language.
Before entering academia, Zac contributed to a variety of magazines and newspapers, including the Honolulu Weekly, and worked in script development for Warner Brothers in Burbank, California.
In his down time, Zac enjoys playing basketball, reading Russian literature and the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and following the carnival that is American politics.
