Kendall Phillips named VPA associate dean

Kendall Phillips, professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), has been named the college’s new associate dean of research and graduate studies.

In this new position, Phillips will promote and facilitate more opportunities for individual faculty members and faculty research teams to garner sponsored research grants and other forms of external funding for research/creative work. He will also assume responsibility for oversight of the college’s graduate programs, developing new initiatives to promote academic excellence and fiscal soundness in graduate study. He will remain chair of CRS for the spring 2010 semester while assuming the duties of associate dean.

Syracuse University has recognized Phillips for his excellence in teaching and scholarship, having named him the 2009 Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Distinguished Fellow, the 2007-08 University Teacher/Scholar of the Year and the 2005 winner of the Graduate School’s Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award.

Phillips’ research and teaching interests are in contemporary rhetorical theory and criticism. His work engages broad theoretical questions of advocacy, controversy, dissent and public memory. He explores these concepts through a variety of rhetorical artifacts, including comic books, film, political speeches and scientific controversies. He is the author of “Controversial Cinema: The Films that Outraged America” (Praeger, 2008), “Testing Controversy: A Rhetoric of Educational Reform” (Hampton Press, 2004) and “Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture” (Praeger, 2005). He is also editor of “Framing Public Memory” (University of Alabama Press, 2004).