Martin J. Medhurst is Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric in the Department of Communication at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
He started his teaching career in 1979 as an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Davis, where he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1985. Dr. Medhurst became Associate Professor of Speech Communication at Texas A&M University in 1988, where he was promoted to full professor in 1991. He taught at Texas A&M for fifteen years and is now in his first year at Baylor.
Professor Medhurst holds the B.A. from Wheaton College (1974), the M.A. from Northern Illinois University (1975), and the Ph.D. from Penn State University (1980).
He is the author or editor of nine books, including Rhetorical Dimensions in Media: A Critical Casebook (1984 and 1991, with Thomas W. Benson), Cold War Rhetoric: Strategy, Metaphor, and Ideology (1990 and 1997, with Robert L. Ivie, Philip Wander, and Robert L. Scott), Communication & the Culture of Technology (1990, with Alberto Gonzalez and Tarla Rai Peterson), Landmark Essays on American Public Address (1993), Dwight D. Eisenhower: Strategic Communicator (1993), Eisenhower's War of Words: Rhetoric and Leadership (1994), Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (1996), Critical Reflections on the Cold War (2000, with H.W. Brands), and Presidential Speechwriting (2003, with Kurt Ritter).
Dr. Medhurst is a frequent contributor to journals in rhetoric and communication studies. His essays have appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication Monographs, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Communication Education, Communication Quarterly, Communication Studies, Western Communication Journal, and the Southern Communication Journal, among other disciplinary outlets. He has also contributed to such interdisciplinary journals as Armed Forces & Society, Journal of Church and State, Studies in Visual Communication, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Professor Medhurst is the founding editor of the journal Rhetoric & Public Affairs and of the scholarly book series of the same title, both published by Michigan State University Press. From 1987-1989, Dr. Medhurst served as the Book Review Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Speech. He has served on the editorial boards of Communication Monographs, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, and Western Journal of Communication. In 1989, he served as a special guest editor for Communication Education. He currently serves as the general editor of the ten volume series, A Rhetorical History of the United States, published by Michigan State University Press, and as general editor of the Presidential Rhetoric Book Series and The Library of Presidential Rhetoric, both published by Texas A&M University Press.
Dr. Medhurst is the recipient of several honors and awards, including the Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award for Outstanding Scholarship (1995 and 1997), the National Communication Association Golden Anniversary Monograph Award for Outstanding Scholarship (1982, with Michael A. DeSousa), and the Religious Communication Association Publication Award (1983). From 1993-1995, Dr. Medhurst held the Naomi Lewis Faculty Fellowship in Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He has lectured widely throughout the United States and his work has been supported by grants from the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library Foundation, the Texas Committee for the Humanities, and the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
