Public Speaking Opportunities/Programs

Colleges & Universities Carleton College
1

<p>Many colleges offer a program without a common name, but the common goal is to study oral persuasion. Sometimes the program is called rhetoric, sometimes oral communications, sometimes just communications studies. Sometimes it is a major, a minor, or a concentration. A few of the colleges which offer this program are Hamilton, Vanderbilt, Colgate, Syracuse, Richmond, Bates and Davidson.</p>

<p>[Hamilton</a> College - Academics - Oral Communication](<a href=“http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/department.html?dept=Oral%20Communication]Hamilton”>http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/department.html?dept=Oral%20Communication)
[Department</a> of Communication Studies](<a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/comm/]Department”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/comm/)
[Colgate:</a> Writing and Rhetoric](<a href=“http://www.colgate.edu/DesktopDefault1.aspx?tabid=647&pgID=3148&parID=3129]Colgate:”>http://www.colgate.edu/DesktopDefault1.aspx?tabid=647&pgID=3148&parID=3129)
[College</a> of Visual and Performing Arts : Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies](<a href=“http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/communication-and-rhetorical-studies-department]College”>http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/communication-and-rhetorical-studies-department)
[University</a> of Richmond School of Arts & Sciences: Rhetoric & Communication Studies](<a href=“http://rhetoric.richmond.edu/]University”>http://rhetoric.richmond.edu/)
[Bates</a> College | Rhetoric](<a href=“Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies | Bates College”>Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies | Bates College)
[Davidson</a> College - Communication Studies Concentration](<a href=“http://www3.davidson.edu/cms/x32822.xml]Davidson”>http://www3.davidson.edu/cms/x32822.xml)</p>

<p>Although Carleton has a debate team, I don’t see much else on the web site that looks like a rhetoric type program.</p>

<p>Do Carleton students get enough opportunities in their regular classes to make oral presentations, with feedback to improve their public speaking skills?</p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>In theory, there’s an office at Carleton associated with the writing center called the SpeakEasy ([Carleton</a> College: Academic Support Center: SpeakEasy](<a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/asc/speakeasy/]Carleton”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/asc/speakeasy/)) to support students in making effective presentations. Maybe it’s too new of an office, but I did not know of a single person at Carleton who worked there or even got help there while I was a student. It wasn’t nearly as established as the Write Place and the Math Skills Center as sources for academic support.</p>

<p>Most departments require students to present their senior comps project publicly, though the specific details of the talk (length, individual or group, size of audience) vary pretty widely depending on the major. Someone visiting campus will see lots of ads for these comps talks in the Noon News Bulletins in the cafeterias.</p>

<p>In maybe half of my classes, I had to present some individual or group project to the class or lead discussion, anything from 5 minutes to more like 45 minutes. The feedback is usually less focused on your presenting skills and moreso on the content, but some professors will emphasize the former more.</p>

<p>There definitely is no major or concentration focused on rhetoric. I think it would be hard to devise a special major in it too simply because there’s like two classes worth of it taught (“Arts of Oral Presentation” half-credit class in the English department, “Rhetoric: Persuasion and Debate” half-credit class in the Theater department, and “The Speaking Voice” in the theater department). I would not recommend Carleton for someone who was dead-set on having substantial coursework in this area.</p>

3

<p>singleparent2005</p>

<p>Communication Studies as a discipline explores the social, political, and economic impact of written, verbal and image based communication. Subspecialty studies in organizational management (business behavior), mass media (PR, polling, advertising), political communications, etc. typically can be found.</p>

<p>If you find this description a little fuzzy, you’re not alone. Traditionally, Communication Studies has been viewed, rightly or wrongly, as ill-defined and “trade-like” in character and resisted as an inappropriate undergraduate course of study by most top tier universities and LACs. It tends to be the newer kids on the block and those that have embraced other “pre-professional” studies that make Communications available as a major (e.g. Penn, Northwestern, Stanford, and Cornell).</p>

<p>Even in these schools, typically only a few classes are devoted to the sole purpose of teaching students the very pragmatic techniques of how to fashion and deliver cogent verbal arguments, utilize specific voice techniques, etc. </p>

<p>Carleton is no different from the vast majority of other top tier schools in its approach. They offer through the English and Theater departments three classes (already mentioned by dietcokewithlime) that teach the very practical skills you mention. Obvioiusly, oral presentations will be requisite parts of many other classes in other departments. In this, again, Carleton would likely be indistinguishable from other LACs. LACs as a group, by virture of smaller class sizes and more discussion based learning, would likely offer more in this regard than their university counterparts. </p>

<p>ENGLISH 220. Arts of Oral Presentation - Instruction and practice in being a speaker and an audience in formal and informal settings</p>

<p>THEA 221: Rhetoric: Persuasion and Debate - This course combines techniques developed for the training of actors with classical rhetorical theories to guide students in developing the ability to create and deliver persuasive arguments and engage in public debate. Classic examples of public address and debate including political speeches and legal arguments will be employed as teaching tools.</p>

<p>THEA 185: The Speaking Voice - This course seeks to provide a practical understanding of the human voice, its anatomy, functioning and the underlying support mechanisms of body and breath. Using techniques rooted in the work of Berry, Linklater and Rodenburg, the course will explore the development of physical balance and ease and the awareness of the connection between thinking and breathing that will lead to the effortless, powerful and healthy use of the voice in public presentations and in dramatic performance.</p>

4

<p>Yes, communications studies is a vague area and the focus varies depending on the college or university one attends. A student at Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Public Communications will get a very different education than a student who majors in Communications Studies at the University of Michigan.</p>

<p>I am really more interested in (1) whether Carleton integrates an emphasis on public speaking and presentation into its regular coursework, similar to the Hamilton College model and (2) whether Carleton offers a course in the study of classical rhetoric.</p>

<p>The answer to (1) seems to be no, but I assume that a graduate of Carleton picks up enough public speaking skills along the way to become pretty effective at the podium.</p>

<p>The answer to (2) is yes. After my original post I found this course in the classical languages department.</p>

<p>CLAS 100: Power and Persuasion</p>

<p>This course will examine rhetoric–the art of speaking well–in the classical world. Students will gain an understanding and appreciation of the theory and practice of rhetoric in a writing-rich environment designed to teach the elements of argumentation and persuasion. While the course will draw upon primarily ancient texts, we will also consider how this art has survived into the modern world. 6; S/CR/NC; Arts and Literature; offered Fall 2008 – C. Hardy</p>

<p>For example, here is an online version of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, one of those ancient texts.</p>

<p>[Aristotle’s</a> Rhetoric](<a href=“http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/]Aristotle’s”>http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/)</p>

<p>I assume that writing papers about these ancient texts and making oral presentations will help a student become a more effective speaker.</p>

5

<p>^ FYI, that Classics 100 is a freshman seminar. It is only available to incoming freshmen each fall and is intended to help freshmen get exposure to college-level writing while offering lots of opportunities for feedback from the professor. The S/Cr/NC (satisfactory/credit/no credit) means it’s ungraded pass/fail.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for pointing that out. I see that schools like Vanderbilt and Richmond offer communications majors that draw heavily upon classical rhetoric, and some other schools like Hampden-Sydney offer a minor. All I wanted to confirm is that Carleton offers something in classical rhetoric and that freshman seminar is probably enough. Everything else about Carleton is a great fit for my son, if he were lucky enough to be admitted.</p>