I came to Iowa State in 1996 from a position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. My central role in the speech communication program within the English Department is serving as the Director of the Fundamentals of Public Speaking Program. In that role I keep abreast of issues in oral communication pedagogy, am active with the Basic Course Directors Conference and work closely with the English Department graduate students who are teaching assistants for our basic public speaking course [SpCm 212]. As of Fall 2006 I have taken on new responsibilities as the Professor in Charge of the speech communication program.

In addition to oral communication pedagogy, my research interests center on the history of American public address. I am particularly intrigued with the history of women orators and explore questions such as, how did women gain access to and reshape the public space of the speaking platform in the nineteenth century? I am also engaged in research concerning the discourse of Presidents and First Ladies as well as an examination of the rhetoric of the temperance social movement.

Office/Office Hours

• office: 310A Carver
• office hours: Mondays 11-12:30, Thursdays 1-2 and by appt.
• office phone: (515) 294-3596
• email: aslagell@iastate.edu
• home page: http://aslagell.public.iastate.edu

Interests

• public speaking pedagogy
• historical women's oratory
• temperance movement discourse
• nineteenth-century presidential rhetoric

Selected Publications

• "Let Something Good Be Said:" Speeches and Writings of Frances E. Willard, (edited, with Carolyn DeSwarte Gifford) University of Illinois Press, 2007.
• “Actions Speak Louder than Words: The Rhetoric of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson,” (with Susan Zaeske) in Molly Wertheimer (Ed.) Inventing A Voice: Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 103-124.
• “The Rhetorical Structure of Frances E. Willard’s Campaign for Woman Suffrage, 1876-1896,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 4 (Spring 2001): 1-23.
• “Facilitating Active Learning,” In Teaching Ideas for the Basic Course IV. Eds. Larry Hugenberg and Barbara Hugenberg. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2000: 1-13.

Affiliations

• National Communication Association (Public Address Division Legislative Assembly rep., Vice Chair Basic Course Division)
• Basic Course Directors Conference
• Central States Communication Association

Degrees

• Ph.D. August 1992 University of Wisconsin, Madison (Communication Arts–Rhetoric)
• M.A. December 1986 University of Wisconsin, Madison (Communication Arts--Rhetoric)
• B.S.C. June 1983 Ohio University (Communication--Generalist)

Current University and College Service

• Department of English Disabilities Liaison for the University Disabilities Office

• PIC of the Speech Communication Program