Brent Chappelow

I am an Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Writing Program of the David and Dana Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California.

As a teacher of writing and rhetoric, I have taught a wide variety of classes including courses designed for multilingual/international students, students enrolled in stretch/basic writing courses, students focusing on professional and technical writing concerns.

Classical rhetorical theory, especially civic-oriented philosophy of Isocrates, informs my teaching practices. I believe that the key to meaningful education lies in creating and fostering discussions that embrace students’ interests and encouraging the development of global citizen-scholars. The diverse perspectives that my students bring to the classroom offer opportunities for our classroom communities to explore the ways in which civic development faces the continuing challenges of responding to complex relationships among histories, languages, and ideologies.

My primary research interest focuses on classical Greek rhetorical theories and the ways in which the connections between visuality and epistemology are intertwined in Greek thought. My dissertation project explored the ways in which classical Greek rhetorical theory frames perceptual knowledge as shared cultural phenomena.

I believe that by expanding our understanding of visuality in classical rhetoric to issues of rhetorical performance and audience experience, rhetoricians can develop a fuller understanding into the relationship of language to other modes of communication, such as those explored in the wider field of visual rhetoric or multimodal practice in classical and contemporary contexts.

In addition to my focus on the history of visuality and rhetoric, I have a wide range of research interests including work with curriculum design and writing program administration.

• Ph.D. Writing, Rhetorics and Literacies, Arizona State University
• M.A. English Language and Literature (Composition), Northwest Missouri State University
• B.A. Journalism, Northwest Missouri State University