Karen A. Foss, Ph.D.
Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1976  Office: Room 216	Regents Professor Communication

Research:

Dr. Foss’s research interests include contemporary rhetoric and criticism, social movements and social change, and feminist perspectives on communication.  She is co-author of Women Speak:  The Eloquence of Women’s Lives, Inviting Transformation:  Presentational Speaking for a Changing World, Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, Feminist Rhetorical Theory, and Theories of Human Communication.  She is presently working on a book for popular audiences, titled Color Up:  Decisions to Thrive With, about thinking beyond the binary; and a book on gender and communication.

Sample Publications:

Books

• Stephen W. Littlejohn and Karen A. Foss. Theories of Human Communication, 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2005; 9th edition in progress.

• Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, and Cindy L. Griffin. Readings in Feminist Rhetorical Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004.

• Sonja K. Foss and Karen A. Foss. Inviting Transformation: Presentational Speaking for a Changing World, 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 2003 (1st ed., 1994).

• Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, and Robert Trapp. Readings in Contemporary Rhetoric. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 2002.

• Sonja K. Foss, Karen A. Foss, and Robert Trapp. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric, 3rd ed. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland, 2002 (1st ed., 1985; 2nd ed., 1991).

• Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, and Cindy L. Griffin. Feminist Rhetorical Theories. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999.

• Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss. Women Speak: The Eloquence of Women's Lives. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland, 1991.
   

Book Chapters

• Karen A. Foss. “Harvey Milk and the Queer Rhetorical Situation: A Rhetoric of Contradiction.” Queering Public Address. Ed. Charles Morris. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2007.

• Karen A. Foss, “Harvey Milk.” American Voices: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Orators. Ed. Bernard K. Duffy and Richard W. Leeman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005, pp. 324-29.

• Karen A. Foss, “Sonia Johnson.” American Voices: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Orators. Ed. Bernard K. Duffy and Richard W. Leeman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005, pp. 211-16.

• Karen A. Foss. “Everything Worth Mentioning.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric, 7. Ed. Robert N. Gaines. College Park, MD: American Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2004, pp. 211-16.

• Karen A. Foss, “Harvey Bernard Milk,” Encyclopedia of American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History and Culture. Vol. 2. Ed. Marc Stein. Chicago: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2004, pp. 265-66.

• Karen A. Foss. "Ernesto Grassi." Twentieth-Century Rhetorics and Rhetoricians: Critical Studies and Sources. Ed. Michael G. Moran and Michelle Ballif. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000, pp. 185-89.

• Karen A. Foss. "Harvey Milk." Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Stud ies. Ed. Timothy F. Murphy. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000, pp. 397-99.
   

Articles:

• Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss. “The Construction of Feminine Spectatorship in Garrison Keillor’s Radio Monologues.” To be reprinted in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeff Hunter. Rowlett, TX: Gale Group; forthcoming August 2006.

• Karen A. Foss. “Kön retorik” [“Engendering Rhetorics”]. RetorikMagasinet, 59 (March 2006), 18-21.

• Karen A. Foss and Kathy L. Domenici. “Haunting Argentina: Synecdoche in the Protests of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, 87 (August 2001), 237-58.

• Sonja K. Foss, Cindy L. Griffin, and Karen A. Foss. "Feminist Reconstructionism: A Reply to Condit." Women's Studies in Communication, 20 (Fall 1997), 117-35.

• Karen A. Foss and Alison Alexander. "Exploring the Margins of Television Viewing." Communication Reports, 9 (Winter 1996), 61-68.

• Sonja K. Foss and Karen A. Foss. "The Construction of Feminine Spectatorship in Garrison Keillor's Radio Monologues." Quarterly Journal of Speech, 80 (November 1994), 410-26.

• Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss. "Personal Experience as Evidence in Feminist Scholarship." Special issue of the Western Journal of Communication, 58 (Winter 1994), 39-43.

• Karen A. Foss. "Cultivating the Cracks: Using Existing Structures to Implement a Feminist Agenda." College and University Personnel Association Journal, 44 (Summer 1993), 61-63.

• Karen A. Foss. "Revising the American Public Address Course." Women's Studies in Communication, 15 (Spring 1993), 66-78.

• Karen A. Foss. "Out From Underground: The Discourse of Emerging Fugitives." Western Journal of Communication, 56 (Spring 1992), 125-42.

• Marlene G. Fine, Fern L. Johnson, and Karen A. Foss. “Student Perceptions of Gender in Managerial Communication." Women's Studies in Communication, 14 (Spring 1991), 24-45.