Lecturer Profile |
Dr. Mei Zhang is an Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Communication at Missouri Western State University. She received her Ph.D. in rhetoric and communication from the University of Pittsburgh inPennsylvania. ­Her scholarly publications focus on the role of rhetoric in the transformation of culture, rhetorical study of mass media, andintercultural communication. She regularly gives presentationsat professional conventions and reviews papers for communication journals and conferences. She has served as an officer in various capacities for the Association for Chinese Communication Studies, an affiliate of the National Communication Association in the U.S. Before pursuing further study abroad, Dr. Zhang was a faculty member in the School of Journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. |
Lecture Abstract |
Rhetorical scholars study language, culture, and the persuasive thrust of all types of communication. Dating from the classical period of ancient Greece, the scope of rhetoric has expanded to include not only speeches but also written texts, visual images, media messages, and online discourses.This lecture will focus on classical theories of rhetoric and public speaking as articulated by Aristotle and Cicero as well as their applications to contemporary society. |
