Rhetoric at Work

The 2018-19 academic year marks the 40^th Anniversary of the Hampden-Sydney Rhetoric Program, a milestone commemorated by a series of lectures and discussions held during the month of March. On March 22, eight alumni from a variety of industries gathered on campus for “Rhetoric at Work,” a panel discussion exploring the importance of communication in the modern workplace. 

Although the panelists represented diverse professions from archaeology to neuroscience, as well as journalism and the law, all attested to the competitive edge the Rhetoric Program has given them in their careers. Matthew Phillips ’01, former editor at Bloomberg Business and now a managing editor at CNN, called his Hampden-Sydney education one of his greatest assets, noting, “There was nothing that journalism school taught me that I hadn’t already learned through the Rhetoric Program here.” Fellow journalist and entrepreneur Leland Rice ’01, former editor of The Business Year and current CEO of the investment and communications firm Dedalus Global, agreed. “The knowledge and training students receive at Hampden-Sydney is unique,” said Rice. “The ability to communicate persuasively and effectively is a competitive advantage that has been the common thread in all of the jobs and roles I’ve held.”

Both Carter Hudgins ’00 and Monti Mercer ’06 explained the relevance of the Rhetoric Program to careers outside the communications industry. As president and CEO of the Drayton Hall Preservation Trust in Charleston, South Carolina, Hudgins communicates with a wide variety of audiences at the 18^th-century estate in any given day, from fourth-grade students to major donors. At Hampden-Sydney, however, he learned that “audience is key,” enabling him to communicate effectively no matter the situation. Mercer concurred, citing his work as a neuroscientist at the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “You have to know your audience,” he told the crowd in Bortz Library, describing the different forms of written communication his job requires, from scientific writing for his professional peers to public relations for a general audience.

Also joining the panel were Peebles Harrison ’89, chairman of the College's board of trustees, Cameron Marshall ’12, director of alumni and parent engagement at Hampden-Sydney, and Kristian Hargadon ’01, Elliot associate professor of biology at the College, who moderated the discussion. Harrison, an attorney with Rose Harrison & Gilreath, P.C. in the Outer Banks, described how his rhetoric training prepared him for law school and a career in the legal profession. And Marshall, a former vice president at McMullen Public Affairs in Charleston, encouraged current students to utilize Hampden-Sydney's top-five alumni network as they chart their own career paths. Both emphasized the advantage that Hampden-Sydney graduates have in the interview process and in the workplace thanks to their training in oral rhetoric.

Although the current Rhetoric Program dates back to a 1978 faculty resolution that “all graduates of Hampden-Sydney shall have demonstrated the ability to write and speak clearly, cogently, and grammatically,” Hampden-Sydney’s focus on written and oral communication is as old as the College itself. In fact, an advertisement for the College dated September 1, 1775, promised that “particular Attention shall be paid to the Cultivation of the English Language.”

But the Rhetoric Program has not remained static, demonstrated by the program’s increased focus on visual and digital rhetoric. Economist Michael Chaevalier ’82, whose class was the first to complete the Rhetoric Program, shared his professional experience with visual and digital rhetoric during the panel discussion. “How do you visualize large sets of data? You research and distill information, then apply the grammar of graphics,” he explained. “Data utilization comes down to the basics of rhetoric.” Hudgins also applies rhetorical principles to areas beyond written and oral communication. His work as an archaeologist and preservationist, he said, utilizes a “rhetoric of place and time that uses objects as text.”

As the College’s innovative Center for Rhetoric and Communication nears completion—the space will be dedicated in the fall of 2019—the Hampden-Sydney Rhetoric Program will continue to expand into 21^st-century rhetoric while remaining firmly grounded in its liberal arts tradition.