We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Hagar Attia, Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, has been named the Ethel and Edgar F. Johnson Endowed Professor of Fine Arts. This esteemed chair was established to elevate the Fine Arts and provide support for special initiatives within the division. The Ethel and Edgar F. Johnson Chair is awarded to a faculty member with a distinguished record of creativity, scholarship, or performance.
Dr. Attia brings a dynamic approach to her teaching, offering courses that span the fields of public speaking, persuasion, argumentation and debate, as well as interpersonal, intercultural, and business communication. Her courses are designed to equip students with essential communication skills and critical perspectives, and she has created online courses that expand this reach, such as “Voices of the Modern Middle East” and “Interpreting Strategic Discourse.” At Gustavus, she regularly teaches “Public Discourse” and “Rhetorical Criticism,” engaging students in the analysis of communication’s role in shaping public life.
Her research focuses on fundamentalist argumentation in American discourse, exploring how themes of purity, preservation, and protection are mobilized in contemporary rhetoric. Dr. Attia’s dissertation, *Purity, Preservation, and Protection: Fundamentalist Arguments in American Discourse,* examines how these ideas are expressed and interpreted in the American public sphere—a timely and important contribution to the field of communication studies.
Congratulations to Dr. Attia on this well-deserved recognition, and we look forward to the impact of her continued contributions to Fine Arts and Communication Studies!