Richard Vatz
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"Whenever there are no disincentives for irresponsibility, irresponsibility thrives." Richard E. Vatz, April 22, 2008
Richard Eugene Vatz (born December 21, 1946) is a tenured full professor of rhetoric and communication at Towson University. [1] He has won Towson’s "President’s Award for Distinguished Service" (the university’s highest honor), the 2002 "Teacher of the Year Award," and four Outstanding Teaching Awards plus a “Teacher of the Year Award.” He has won the Thomas Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties. He has written a book on psychiatric rhetoric and published articles on political rhetoric and media criticism in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Forbes Mediacritic, The Law and Society Review, and elsewhere. He has discussed issues of public policy on CNN’s "Crossfire", and "Larry King Live," "The Phil Donahue Show," ABC Radio, CBS Radio, Fox Television, and Maryland local radio and television. Having served over a quarter century in Towson's preeminent legislative body, Vatz is the longest-serving member of Towson’s University Senate (29 years) and is still serving as of 2008. He is serving his third term in the National Communication Association’s Legislative Assembly also as of 2008.
Vatz has published a book and hundreds of essays, articles and reviews, and given scores of lectures on topics including the preeminence of rhetorical study, political rhetoric, rhetoric and psychiatry and media criticism. His seminal article, “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation,” [1] written when he was 25 years of age, critiqued Lloyd Bitzer's 1968 article "The Rhetorical Situation" and has served as the basis for his world view on persuasion; namely, that rhetorical study is conceived most advantageously for the field through a model of competition for persuasion. This competition is evidenced by persuaders’ struggles to create salience for issues or evidence (now commonly termed an “agenda”) followed by the struggle to infuse the saliency with the desired meaning (or now, "spin" and "framing"). This perspective emphasizes rhetoric as a creative act with increased persuader responsibility for the situation his or her rhetoric creates and/or sustains for chosen audiences. His view argues against the promotion of rhetoric as a passive activity that exists in response to allegedly intrinsically meaningful situations.
The primary examples Vatz uses to illustrate this rhetorical perspective are the rhetoric of mental illness – reflecting the views of Dr. Thomas S. Szasz – and political rhetoric wherein political actors compete to try to make their agendas and their chosen meanings and significances dominant for chosen political audiences.
Vatz has been an associate psychology editor for the journal USA Today Magazine since 1987 and has been a member of the National Communication Association since 1969. He is married with two grown children.
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[edit] Highlights
President's Award for Distinguished Service, 2004
Maryland “Governor’s Citation” for Achievements in Higher Education and Service to Towson University, 2004
The Thomas Szasz Civil Liberties Award [2] January, 1994
Winner, Teaching Fellow Award, Eastern Communication Association, 2004
Keynote Speaker and award-winner at first "Towson's Elite" Night, 2004
Towson University Faculty Volunteer Service Award, 2003
"Teacher of the Year,” 2002, Towson University, awarded by the Student Government Association
University Merit Award 1984, 1988, 1990 (awarded to 30 faculty each year 1983-1990)
Outstanding Teaching Grants, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 (awarded to 10 of approximately 500 full-time faculty each year 1976-1980)
Appointed to Faculty of Honors College, Towson State University, 1982
[edit] Selected Lecturing Activity
Windham Fellow Lecture Series in Liberal Arts, "Rhetoric and Impeachment," Middle Tennessee State University, March 4, 1999
Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich's addresses to Vatz’s "Persuasion" class at Towson twice a year 1993-present
Moderated debates for U.S. House of Representatives election: 2004; Dutch Ruppersberger in 2006 for his attempt to win a Congressional seat and Ruppersberger vs. Helen Bentley for their House race, September 24, 2002.
Moderated a debate between state senate candidates Jim Brochin and Martha Klima, 2002
Featured speaker honoring Dr. Thomas Szasz on his 80th birthday; symposium was titled “Liberty and/or Psychiatry: 40 Years After 'The Myth of Mental Illness,'" April 15, 2000
Highlight Article on Vatz’s public commentary: Vatz's Election Commentary, Towson Times, October 23, 2002
Subject of article in The Washington Post, May 6, 2004 on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich’s lectureships to his Persuasion class, 1993-2004
Moderated debate between Mr. William F. Buckley and Sen. George McGovern, Towson University, 1985
[edit] Selected Research
Panel presented on Vatz’s work at NCA convention, "Richard E. Vatz on Rhetoric and Psychiatry," 1999
Named as a major rhetorical theorist in an essay on "The Rhetorical Situation" in Twentieth-Century Roots of Rhetorical Studies and in essay on "Rhetorical Theory as Message Reception" in Spring, 2003 Communication Studies
Appointed Lifetime Member of Board of Trustees, USA Today Magazine
Chosen by NCA Vice President to participate in a debate on President Bush’s policies on Iraq for NCA national convention, 2002
Ad Watch Critic, WBAL Radio, September-November 2002: Printed Analysis of Campaign Ads in 2002 Campaigns
Short bio feature, “No Rhetoric Here,” The Baltimore Jewish Times, January 9, 2004 p. 8
