Courses Taught

COM 30 : Introduction to Rhetoric
COM 34: American Public Address
COM 22: Argumentation
COM 32: Rhetorical Criticism
COM 20: Public Speaking
COM 24: Persuasive Speaking
COM 46: Communication Law
COM 36: Studies in Rhetoric

Research Areas

1. Academic scholarship: [Click here for Statement on Scholarship]
History of Rhetoric, Rhetorical Criticism, Public Address (History of Oratory), Rhetoric and Law, Freedom of Speech, Public Argument

2. Public scholarship: [Click here for Sstatement on Public Scholarship]
Civil Rights and Liberties, Freedom of Speech and Religion, Public Discourse, Cultural Criticism

3. Select Scholarship Honors:
Madison Award for Excellence in Free Speech Scholarship, 1996
Early Career Research Award, Southern States Communication Association, 1996

Teaching Areas

[Click here for statement on Teaching]

1. At Furman:
Introduction to Rhetoric, American Public Address, Argumentation, Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasive Speaking, Public Speaking, Communication Law, Studies in Rhetoric: African American Protest.

2. Elsewhere:
History of Rhetoric, Rhetoric & Civic Life, British Public Address, Ethics of Rhetoric, Legal Communication, Rhetoric of Law & Justice, Courtroom Oratory, The Rhetoric of the Mass Media, The Art of the Lecture, Communication & Liberal Education, Seminars in Humanistic Communication, St. Augustine, and Cicero.

3. Select Teaching Honors:
Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Outstanding Teaching, Vanderbilt University, 1996
Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Outstanding Faculty Member Award, Oregon State University, 1992
Thomas R. Meehan Excellence in Teaching Award, Oregon State University, 1991
Blue Key Senior Honorary Excellence in Teaching Award, Oregon State University, 1990 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Fellow Award, University of Oregon, 1985.

Service

1. Department:
Faculty Advisor to the Nu Theta chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the official Honor Society of the National Communication Association. Faculty Advisor to the Cicero Society, the society for Communication Studies majors at Furman.

2. Professional:
Former President, American Society for the History of Rhetoric. Currently serving on the ASHR Steering Committee. Currently Associate Editor of Advances in the History of Rhetoric and the Journal of Communication and Religion Program Committee Member, Conference on Rhetoric and Democracy, African Athens

3. Select Service Honors:
National Communication Association “Spotlight on Scholarship” (for Public Scholarship)

Biographical Overview: Sean Patrick O’Rourke

Sean Patrick O’Rourke is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Furman University. He joined the faculty in 2000 after receiving his J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He has been a visiting Assistant Professor at Whitman College, an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University, an NEH summer seminar fellow at the University of Wisconsin, and an Assistant Professor and Lilly Fellow at Vanderbilt University.

O’Rourke teaches courses in the History of Rhetoric, Contemporary Rhetorical Theory, British and American Public Address, Freedom of Speech, the Ethics of Rhetoric, the Rhetoric of Law and Justice, and the Rhetoric of the Mass Media. He has also taught special seminars in Cicero: Citizen and Orator, Humanistic Communication, the Rhetoric of Augustine, and Rhetoric & Civic Life. He received the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award in 1996 at Vanderbilt University, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Outstanding Faculty Member Award in 1992, the Thomas R. Meehan Excellence in Teaching Award in 1991, the Blue Key Senior Honorary Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990 (all at O.S.U.), and the University of Oregon Outstanding Graduate Teaching Fellow Award in 1985.

O’Rourke’s articles and reviews have appeared in Legal Studies Forum, Rhetorica, Journal of the American Forensic Association, Southern Communication Journal, Communication Reports, Journal of the Early Republic, The American Journal of Legal History, Rhetoric Review, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Advances in the History of Rhetoric, Canadian Journal of Rhetorical Studies/La Revue Canadienne d’etudes rhetoriques, The Forensic, Court Call, and Free Speech Yearbook, as well as several anthologies and conference proceedings. He has also published pieces in the Los Angeles Time, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Post, Seattle Times, [Portland] Oregonian, San Diego Union-Tribune, Birmingham News, Hartford Courant, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Minneapolis Star Tribune, [Louisville] Courier-Journal, and other daily newspapers. He is currently working on two books, one on Hugh Blair and the other on early Supreme Court orators. He received the Southern States Communication Association Early Career Research Award in 1996 and, with his co-author Ron Manuto, won the Madison Award for excellence in free speech scholarship that same year.

O’Rourke has served as President and Steering Committee Member for the American Society for the History of Rhetoric, Vice-Chair of the SSCA Freedom of Speech Division, Chair of the WSCA Communication and Law Interest Group, member of the Program Committee of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric and the conference on Rhetoric and Democracy, African Athens, Staff Editor and Managing Board Member of the Oregon Law Review, Associate Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Southern Communication Journal, Journal of Communication and Religion, and Advances in the History of Rhetoric. He has also served as a Manuscript Referee for Women’s Studies in Communication, Rhetoric Review, Rhetorica, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.