The University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Department of Communication, in conjunction
with the Speech and Debate Forum, will host the annual Traveling Scholars Series from
6-8 p.m., in Hemphill Hall, Room 134 on Thursday, Oct. 17. The event is titled “Exploring
the Visual and Rhetorical Power of Civil Rights Sit-Ins.” Each presenter seeks to
analyze various sit-ins that took place during the American Civil Rights Movement
in the 1960s. This event is free and open to the public.
This year’s featured guest speakers include Rebecca Bridges Watts, Dr. Sean O’Rourke,
and Dr. Lesli Pace, associate professor of communication at ULM.
Pace started the Traveling Scholars Series in 2009 and believes the program enables
students to experience another element of communication by learning from other scholars
in the same field.
“We are excited to have Drs. O'Rourke and Watts as part of the Traveling Scholars
series,” Pace said. “The topic of this event and their expertise in visual rhetoric
are a great way to highlight part of the changes that have taken place in our department.”
Pace continued, “As part of the newly developed bachelor’s degree in communication
we designed a concentration in communication advocacy, and we also now require all
communication majors to take a course called visual literacy. Exploring the images
from civil rights sit-ins seems the perfect fit.”
Pace’s presentation is titled. “A 1960 New Orleans, Louisiana Sit-In: Exploring the
Narrative Power of Images.”
“I’m very excited to be participating in this semester’s event,” remarked Pace. “It’s
good for our community to see that faculty are doing research, going to conferences,
and publishing in our fields.”
Watts, associate professor of communication and media studies at Stetson University,
will present her work titled “Wade in the Water: Swim-Ins at St. Augustine Beach,
Florida in the Long Hot Summer of 1964.”
O’Rourke, professor of rhetoric at Furman University, will present his work titled
“Reading Bodies, Reading Books: The 1960 Greenville, South Carolina Sit-Ins as Rhetorical
Somatics.”
Upon the conclusion of the presentations, the floor will be opened to discussion.
For more information please contact Lesli Pace at 318-342-1165 or pace@ulm.edu
