Rhetoric and Public Address Archives

Theories of Persuasion

As an incoming freshman at Hillsdale College, Rob Schlitts’s ’06 career dreams were far from a phonathon company.

Walking With A Purpose

For Hannah Blazek, ’16, the emphasis placed on developing professional skills in pageantry helped transform a shy, six-foot redhead into a confident leader.

Jonathan Church, ’17, On Competitive Speaking at Hillsdale

Senior Jonathan Church took third in the Edward Everett Oratory Competition his sophomore year, won it last year, and plans to compete again this semester.

Words That Matter

Public speaking is a central part of our lives, and learning effective rhetoric is an important part of Hillsdale’s education. Insights into the minds of historically great orators are valuable to current speech students.

Communication in Leadership: Student Leadership Workshop

Every semester, student campus leaders gather for a week to learn about leadership and find a way to answer the question: “How can we make Hillsdale the best college?”

It’s All In The Presentation

Ryan Kelly Murphy wasn’t born with a propensity for rhetoric. “In the beginning, public speaking was definitely a challenge,” Ryan says, laughing. “But my mom reminded me that the people who are now at the top didn’t start out at the top.”

Speech Majors Katharine Torres and Christine Nishinaga.

The Art of Rhetoric and Public Speaking

I interviewed speech majors Katharine Torres, ’17, and Christine Nishinaga, ’16, separately, so it was by pure coincidence that both emphasized how much they love their advanced public speaking course and Dr. Kiledal herself. It was exciting to see how passionate these girls are about their major and how much good the speech department has done for them already.

God, Sophists, and Planetary Motion

Although Kristiana Mork currently plans to double major in Politics and Speech, her first encounter with both subjects in high school debate was less than favorable.

Edward Everett Oratory Competition: Christopher Landers

We had the chance to catch up with Christopher Landers, the runner-up in the Edward Everett Oratory Competition. We asked him about his speech preparation methods, memorization strategy, activities on campus, and post-graduation plans.

Edward Everett Oratory Competition: Dylan Hoover

We talked to Dylan after he won the competition about his speech-writing techniques and involvement with the Speech Team as well as Mock Trial. We thought his speech-writing traditions were pretty unique.