Lester C. Olson
Professor & Chancellor's Distinguished Teacher
Areas of Specialization:
Rhetorical Criticism and Theory, American Public Address, Human Rights
Rhetoric, Rhetorical Iconology, Lesbian and Gay Rhetoric
Curriculum Vitae
Phone: (412) 624-6796
Fax: (412) 624-1878
Office: CL 1109M
Mailing Address:
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Rhetoric and Communication
Cathedral of Learning 1117
4200 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: olson+@pitt.edu
Recent Awards
Winner of the Rhetorical Society of America's 2005 Book Award for his 2004 book, Ben Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology.
Professor Olson received his award at the RSA Institute Awards Banquet at Kent State University on May 28th.
Major Publications
Books
Ben Franklin's Vision of American Community: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology. Columbia, S.C.: University South Carolina Press, 2004.
Emblems of American Community in the Revolutionary Era: A Study
in Rhetorical Iconology Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 1991.
Journal Articles
"A Cartography of Silence: Bias Crimes and Public Speechlessness," Journal of Intergroup Relations 31.4 (Winter 2004/2005): 76-102.
"The Personal, the Political, and Others: Audre Lorde Denouncing
'The Second Sex Conference,'" Philosophy and Rhetoric
33:3 (Fall 2000): 259-85
"Liabilities of Language: Audre Lorde Reclaiming Difference,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 448-70.
"On the Margins of Rhetoric: Audre Lorde Transforming Silence
into Language and Action," Quarterly Journal of Speech,
83:1 (1997): 49-70.
"Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), Religious Reformer and Advocate of
the Oppressed: A Case Study in the Rhetoric of the Women's Movement,"
co-author: Trudy Bayer. Women Public Speakers in the United States:
a Bio-Critical Sourcebook, Wesport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1993.
"The American Colonies Portrayed as an Indian: Race and Gender
in Eighteenth Century British Caricatures," Imprint: Journal
of the American Historical Print Collectors Society 17 (Autumn 1992):
2-13.
"An Ideological Rupture: Metaphorical Divergence in Loyalist Rhetoric
During the American Revolution" Rhetorica: An International
Journal of the History of Rhetoric 10 (Autumn 1992): 405-422.
"Benjamin Franklin's Commemorative Medal, Libertas Americana:
A Study in Rhetorical Iconology," Quarterly Journal of Speech
76 (February 1990): 23-45.
"Benjamin Franklin's Pictorial Representations of the British
Colonists in America: A Study in Rhetorical Iconology," Quarterly
Journal of Speech 73 (February 1987): 18-42.
"Portraits in Praise of a People: A Rhetorical Analysis of Norman
Rockwell's Icons in Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'Four Freedoms' Campaign,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 69 (February 1983): 15-24.
Courses Taught
Graduate
Visual Rhetoric
Rhetorical Criticism
Rhetoric of American Revolution
Undergraduate
Rhetorical Criticism
Rhetoric of Human Rights
Member of:
National Communication Association
Rhetorical Society of America
American Society of 18th Century Studies
Rhetorical Society of America Book Award:
