Ethics conference's "scholar-in-residence" named
May 15, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- One of the nation's top communication ethics scholars, Dr. Richard Johannesen of Northern Illinois University, has been named the first James A. Jaksa Scholar-in-Residence of the National Communication Ethics Conference.
The conference, held biennially with Western Michigan University acting as host, will take place at WMU Thursday, May 30, through Sunday, June 2. Convened this year for the seventh time, the conference is sponsored by the Communication Ethics Commission of the National Communication Association; the Department of Communication at Duquesne University; and Western Michigan University's Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, Department of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences. Participants from across the United States and as far away as Switzerland are expected to attend the event.
The scholar-in-residence, a visiting professorship which has been a part of the National Communication Ethics conference since its founding in 1990, was named this year to honor Dr. James A. Jaksa, professor emeritus of communication at WMU. Jaksa is a founder of the conference and of the Communication Ethics Commission of the National Communication Association. Throughout his professional career, Jaksa researched and taught communication ethics, primarily in interpersonal and organizational contexts. He is the co-author of two books on communication ethics.
Johannesen, a professor of communication at NIU, is the author of the book "Ethics in Human Communication." He is editor or co-editor of several other books, including "Ethics and Persuasion," "Language is Sermonic: Richard M. Weaver on the Nature of Rhetoric," and "Contemporary Theories of Rhetoric." He received the Duquesne University Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies' Scholar Award for Communication Excellence in Ethics Education for the Mind, Heart, and Soul and has twice been a recipient of the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award from NIU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
As the conference's scholar-in-residence, Johannesen will give a keynote address at 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 31, in the President's Dining Room of the Bernhard Center. He will speak on "The Role for Shame in Communication Ethics. "
Media contact: Marie Lee, 269 387-8400, marie.lee@wmich.edu