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Professor, Department of Communication Arts, University of Waterloo

Robert Danisch has a PhD in Communication from the University of Pittsburgh (2004) and a BA from the University of Virginia in History and Philosophy. He is a Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo. His research interests concern rhetorical theory and public communication within democratic societies, and he has written extensively about the relationship between American Pragmatism and rhetoric. He is the author of Pragmatism, Democracy, and the Necessity of Rhetoric (University of South Carolina Press, 2007) and Building a Social Democracy: The Promise of Rhetorical Pragmatism (Lexington Books, 2015). He is also the author of a popular book on improving communication skills: What Effect Have I Had? 100 Communication Practices to be a Better Partner, Teammate, Writer, Speaker, and Leader (KDP, 2018). Professor Danisch hosts a podcast called “Now We’re Talking” that focuses on communication skills, and he is currently finishing a SSHRC-funded project titled Sociologies of Rhetoric which outlines the conditions for rhetorical citizenship within large-scale democratic societies. His work has appeared in Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetoric Review, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Social Epistemology, Public Understanding of Science, and Southern Communication Journal. Rob teaches courses in Communication Ethics, Speech Writing, Persuasion, Small Group Communication, and Public Communication. He joined the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo in 2011.

Experience

  • 2021–present
    Professor, University of Waterloo

Education

  • 2004 
    University of Pittsburgh, Communication