Jean Ward

Professor Emerita of Communication

department: Communication
e-mail: jean@lclark.edu

History

I spent forty-two years, from 1964 to 2006, at Lewis & Clark, where I first served as Director of Forensics and taught in the then Speech Department. Across the years, I taught in and chaired the Communication Department, co-founded the Gender Studies Program, and served in a variety of administrative posts, including Assistant and Associate Dean of Faculty, and Director of Inventing America, a general studies program for all first-year students. Prior to coming to Lewis & Clark, I taught U.S. History, Speech, and Drama in an Oregon high school. My associations with Lewis & Clark students have remained some of the most professionally and personally fulfilling experiences of my life.

I am a native Oregonian and have a deep appreciation for the environment and beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Although my husband and I have done considerable traveling, our home is definitely Oregon, where our two sons also live. Strolling along the Oregon beaches, tending a large garden, tracing family history, reading biographies and historical works, and spending time with our grandchildren are some of my favorite pastimes.

Scholarly Interests

American public discourse, American studies, protest rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, feminist studies, gender studies.

Education

B.S. with honors, University of Oregon, 1960, major in speech. M.S. with honors, University of Oregon, 1964, major in speech. Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oregon, 1989, major in speech: rhetoric and communication, dissertation on women's responses to male authority systems.

Professional Affiliations

Oregon Historical Society, Phi Kappa Phi, National Women's Studies Association, National Communication Association

Publications

My most recent research interests continue to focus on rhetorical studies of Pacific Northwest women. In 2008, I provided entries on Abigail Scott Duniway and Bethenia Owens-Adair for the Oregon Encyclopedia Project. My chapter on the life and work of Dr. Owens-Adair will appear in the forthcoming Eminent Astorians. In 2006, I appeared in and assisted with the OPB television production titled Abigail Scott Duniway, produced for the Oregon Experience series. With Elaine A. Maveety, I co-edited Pacific Northwest Women, 1815-1925: Lives, Memories, and Writings (Oregon State University Press, 1995), and "Yours for Liberty": Selections from Abigail Scott Duniway's Suffrage Newspaper (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2000).