| FACULTY PROFILES
 Christopher Swift , Assistant Professor (Ph.D.
Northwestern University)
Email: c-swift@tamu.edu
Office: Bolton 204
Department of Communication
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4234
Professor Swift studies the history of rhetoric in its ethical relationship to philosophy. His work currently focuses on nineteenth and twentieth century writers in German and French.
He regularly teaches the following courses: COMM 301 - Rhetoric in Western Thought, COMM 640 - Rhetorical Theory.
Curriculum Vitae
Christopher Swift
(PDF Version)
Department of Communication
Texas A&M University
4234 TAMU
College Station, TX 77803
(+1) 979-845-1356 (office)
c-swift@tamu.edu
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University: 2006-present.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Northwestern University: 2000-02, 2004-06.
Research Fellow, Seminar für allgemeine Rhetorik der Universität Tübingen: 2003-04
Research Fellow, Paris Program in Critical Theory: 2002-03.
Research Fellow, Northwestern University: 1999-00.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Minnesota: 1997-99.
Degrees
Ph.D. Northwestern University: 2006
M.A. University of Minnesota: 1999
B.A. Purdue University: 1997
Awards and Honors
Melbern G. Glasscock Humanities Center Internal Faculty Fellowship, 2007-2008.
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Year Long Grant, 2003-2004.
National Communication Association (NCA) Doctoral Honors Seminar, 2003.
French Interdisciplinary Group Paris Program in Critical Theory Fellowship, 2002-2003.
Northwestern University Summer Research Fellowships 2000-2003
Northwestern University Fellowship, 1999-2000.
DAAD Summer Language Course Scholarship, 1998.
Purdue University School of Liberal Arts Honors Scholarship, 1996.
Publications and Manuscripts
“Herbert Marcuse on the New Left: Dialectic and Rhetoric.” Essay forthcoming in Rhetoric Society Quarterly (2010).
“Academic Engagement.” Invited forum response in preparation for Quarterly Journal of Speech.
“Friedrich Nietzsche and the Metaphysics of Rhetoric.” Essay manuscript under revision.
Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Style of Friedrich Nietzsche. Book manuscript in preparation.
Conference Participation
“Immanuel Kant’s Philosophical Rhetoric.” Paper on panel competitively selected: Rhetoric Society of America Conference, Minneapolis, 2010.
“The Spirit of History of Rhetoric: Creating New Concords and controversies in Rhetorical History and Historiography.” Participant in special session competitively selected: Rhetoric Society of America Conference, Minneapolis, 2010.
“Three Philosophies of Rhetoric.” Paper on panel competitively selected by the Semiotics and Communication division: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 2009.
“The Cruelty of Philosophy.” Paper on panel invited by the University of South Carolina Rhetorical Theory Conference, Columbia, SC, 2009.
“Rhetoric without Eloquence from Romantic Germany.” Paper competitively selected: International Society for the History of Rhetoric conference, Montréal, 2009.
“The Limits of ‘Tropology’ in de Man’s Reading of Nietzsche.” Paper on panel competitively selected by the American Society for the History of Rhetoric: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 2007.
“The Interminable Return of …” Paper on panel competitively selected by the Ethnography division: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 2007. Earlier versions on panel competitively selected by the Performance Studies division: National Communication Association Convention, San Antonio, 2006; on panel competitively selected by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division: National Communication Association Convention, Boston, 2005; on panel competitively selected by the Performance Studies division: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 2004; and on panel competitively selected by the Performance Studies division and co-sponsored by the Critical and Cultural Studies division: National Communication Association Convention, Miami, 2003.
“Friedrich Nietzsche and the Metaphysics of Rhetoric.” Paper competitively selected: International Society for the History of Rhetoric conference, Strasbourg, 2007.
“Friedrich Nietzsche and the Rhetoric of the Future.” Paper competitively selected by the American Society for the History of Rhetoric: National Communication Association Convention, San Antonio, 2006.
“The Health of Theory in the Discipline.” Participant in roundtable discussion competitively selected by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division: National Communication Association Convention, Boston, 2005.
“Herbert Marcuse’s New Left Address.” Paper on panel competitively selected by the Public Address division: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 2004 (panel organizer).
“The Ethics of Ethics in Zarathustra.” Paper on panel competitively selected by the Communication Ethics Commission: National Communication Association Convention, Miami, 2003 (panel organizer).
“Søren Kierkegaard’s Choice.” Paper competitively selected by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division: National Communication Association Convention, Miami, 2003.
“Listening to Zarathustra.” Paper competitively selected by the Rhetoric and Performance seminar: National Communication Association Doctoral Honors Conference, Bowling Green, 2003.
“Zarathustra as Rhetor.” Paper competitively selected: International Society for the History of Rhetoric conference, Madrid, 2003.
“Lincoln and the Other Douglass.” Paper competitively selected by the Public Address division: National Communication Association Convention, New Orleans, 2002. Earlier version on panel invited by the University of Iowa and Northwestern University joint conference, Amana Colonies, 2000.
“The Art of History in Benjamin’s Passagenwerk.” Paper competitively selected by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division: National Communication Association Convention, Atlanta, 2001 (panel organizer).
“The Spellwriter: Walter Benjamin as Producer.” Paper on panel competitively selected by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division: National Communication Association Convention, Chicago, 1999 (panel organizer).
Invited Lectures and Presentations
“Nietzsche’s Contest over Rhetoric.” Northwestern University Center for Global Culture and Communication Summer Institute on “Rhetoric, Nietzsche, and After,” Evanston: 15 July 2009.
“Herbert Marcuse on the New Left: Dialectic and Rhetoric.” Department of Communication Studies colloquium, University of Texas, Austin: 8 May 2009.
Respondant (with Robert Gooding Williams) to Diego von Vacano’s The Art of Power: Machiavelli, Nietzsche, and the Making of Aesthetic Political Theory. “Author Meets Readers” session co-sponsored by the Political Theory Convocation and the Melburn G. Glasscock Humanities Center at Texas A&M University, College Station: 13 February 2009.
“Rhetoric and Romanticism in Nietzsche.” Place, Time, Texts: How Do We Keep Knowing? Melburn G. Glasscock Center Faculty Fellows Symposium. Texas A&M University, College Station: 17 November 2008.
“The Rhetoric of the Future!” Rhetoric/Discourse Studies Research Discussion: Department of English, Texas A&M University, College Station: 27 February 2008. Earlier version presented to the Department of Speech Communication, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: December 2004.
International Education
Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen: student and research fellow in the Seminar für allgemeine Rhetorik, academic year 2003-04.
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Intensive course in German language (100 hours), summer 2003.
Paris Program in Critical Theory: research program affiliated with the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, under the direction of Samuel Weber, academic year 2002-03.
Cercle d’Echanges Interculturels et Linguistiques Avignon du Jardin des Cultures d’Europe: intensive course in French language and culture (200 hours), summer 2002.
International School for Humanities and Social Sciences, Universiteit van Amsterdam: exchange student with the Program in Discourse and Argumentation Studies, spring 2002.
InterDaF e. V. am Herder-Institut der Universität Leipzig: intensive course in German language and culture for DAAD scholarship recipients (200 hours), summer 1998.
Teaching Experience
Communication and Contemporary Issues: Public Deception (TAMU: COMM 460)
Senior-level, writing-intensive seminar. The course examines both the recent history of lying to the public in the United States and the long tradition of thinking about whether or not such deceptions are ethically justifiable.
Rhetorical Theory (TAMU: COMM 640)
Taught twice. Graduate seminar surveying major theoretical contributions to the European tradition of rhetorical inquiry from ancient Greece to the present.
Religious Communication (TAMU: COMM 480)
Taught twice. Senior-level, writing-intensive seminar. The course examines the ethics of preaching through an analysis of the relationship between philosophy and religion or reason and faith in the Western tradition. The major writers covered include Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Albert Camus.
Communication and Contemporary Issues: Ideas of Communication (TAMU: COMM 460)
Taught twice. Senior-level, writing-intensive seminar. The course analyses the development of ideas of communication in the “classical” and “romantic” periods of European thought in order to help clarify contemporary thinking about these ideas and ultimately to help address the communication problems that we face today.
Rhetoric and Western Thought (TAMU: COMM 301)
Taught four times. Large lecture format course with discussion sections (3 TAs) surveying major contributions to the rhetorical tradition of thinking from antiquity through the twentieth century. The goals of this course are 1) to help students familiarize themselves with the canon of the rhetorical tradition and 2) to help them develop their own positions on some of the central questions in the history of rhetoric.
Public Speaking (Northwestern: GEN CMN 102; Minnesota: SPCH 1101)
Taught nine times. Responsible for all aspects of the course.
Analysis of Argument (Minnesota: SPCH 1313)
Taught seven times. Writing-intensive. Responsible for all aspects of the course.
The Art of Controversy (Northwestern: COMM ST 210)
Assisted Professor Robert Hariman with grading, course design, and delivered one lecture to the class on reading Plato.
Arts of Advocacy: An Introduction to Rhetorical Theory (Northwestern: COMM ST 210)
Assisted Professor Jean Goodwin with most aspects of course design and grading, lead weekly sections for half of the students, debated with Dr. Goodwin for all four sections, and gave two lectures to the entire class for the unit on ethos.
Theories of Argumentation (Northwestern: COMM ST 220)
Assisted Professor David Zarefsky with grading and led two weekly discussion sections for approximately fifty students.
Rhetorical History of the United States I (Northwestern: COMM ST 325-1)
The course covers colonization through the events leading to civil war. Assisted Professor David Zarefsky with grading and lead a weekly discussion section for twelve students.
Rhetoric of the American Presidency: Richard Nixon (Northwestern: COMM ST 322)
Assisted Professor Lee Huebner with grading, ran two sections for group presentations, designed and maintained the course web site.
Service
Department of Communication representative to Evans Library, Texas A&M 2008-
Communication/Women’s Studies joint faculty search committee, Texas A&M 2008-09.
Department of Communication committee on enhancing research, Texas A&M 2008
Ad hoc. planning committee for Department of Communication retreat, Texas A&M 2008.
Guest reviewer for Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 2008.
Reviewer of paper and panel submissions for the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division, National Communication Association Convention, Boston 2005.
Chair of planning committee and negotiator with the administration, Graduate Student Association, Northwestern 2001.
Dept. of Communication Studies graduate student representative, Northwestern 2000-2001.
Dept. of Speech-Communication representative to the Council of Graduate Students, Minnesota 1998-1999.
Social Sciences Policy and Review Council, Minnesota 1998-1999.
Graduate School Academic Grievance Committee, Minnesota 1998-1999.
References available upon request.
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