The Engaged University: Where Rhetorical Theory Matters

Abstract

This essay contends that engagement, a productive coupling of the academy's intellectual resources with the enterprise of generating solutions to current real-world challenges, can best flourish when its theoretical foundations rest upon rhetorical perspectivism. We examine the current movement in academe toward engagement and problems attendant to its implementation, present a solution to these shortcomings in the concept of “intellectual entrepreneurship,” offer “rhetorical perspectivism” as a constructive theoretical framework for grounding intellectual entrepreneurship's philosophy of education, and illustrate with an example the advantages of applying rhetorical perspectivism to the project of engagement. Rhetorical perspectivism, we argue, unites “thinking” (reflection) and “doing” (action), enabling scholars to leverage knowledge for social good.

Keywords:

• Engagement
• Intellectual Entrepreneurship
• Interdisciplinary Research
• Rhetorical Perspectivism
• Rhetoric as Epistemic

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James W. Hikins

James W. Hikins is Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Public Relations at the University of Central Arkansas

Richard A. Cherwitz

Richard A. Cherwitz is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Director of Intellectual Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at Austin