Lesli K. Pace, Ph.D.
Chair / Associate Professor — Communication Studies & Modern Languages
I am an associate professor and the chairperson of the Department of Communication Studies and Modern Languages at Southeast Missouri State University. I have been teaching in a college/university setting for more than 25 years.
During that time I have had the opportunity to teach in community colleges, public state institutions in Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Missouri, as associate faculty for Bar Ilan University in Israel, and in summer programs at Yale and Northwestern University.
My research deals primarily with the rhetoric of gender and social movements, though I also write about motherhood/parenting and being a woman in leadership. I have published articles in outlets such as Peace Studies Journal, Qualitative Inquiry, Women and Language, and Journal of Education and Culture Studies that range in focus from feminist ontology to leadership challenges.
Of my most treasured professional accomplishments is having co-edited two books: Like Wildfire: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Sit-Ins (University of South Carolina Press, 2020) and On Fire: Five Civil Rights Sit-Ins and the Rhetoric of Protest (University of South Carolina Press, 2021).
I am also a wife, mother, baker, and thalassophile (lover of the ocean).
Additional Information
Education
Ph. D., Rhetoric and Philosophy of Communication
Department of Speech Communication
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
M.A., Communication: Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Department of Communication Studies
Texas State University, San Marcos
B. A., Speech Communication: Public Address
Department of Speech Communication
Southeast Missouri State University
Research Interests
- Gender, Feminist, and Race Studies
- Social Movements
- Rhetorical Theory
Scholarly Activity
Dr. Pace has published articles in Peace Studies Journal, Qualitative Inquiry, Women and Language and the Louisiana Communication Journal focusing on feminist ontology, women’s movements, and parenting discourses. She is co-editor (with Sean Patrick O’Rourke) of Like Wildfire: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Sit-Ins (University of South Carolina Press, 2020) and On Fire: The Civil Rights Sit-Ins and the Rhetoric of Protest (University of South Carolina Press, forthcoming 2021) which includes her essay “A New Orleans Sit-In: Exploring the Narrative Power of Images."
Dr. Pace has been an invited lecturer on two occasions for a “Pink Bag Series” where she presented “Rethinking Political Correctness: Development, Implementation, and (Re)Articulation” and “Self-Awareness, Perception, and Communication Practices: Exploring Privilege and Intersectionality”. She is also an active member of the Southern States Communication Association.Courses Taught
- Honors Communication Communication Theory
- Fundamentals of Communication Contemporary Criticism
- Interpersonal Communication Rhetoric of Social Movements
- Public Speaking Rhetorical Theory
- Visual Literacy Rhetorical Criticism
- Argumentation and Debate Rhetoric and Public Address
- Persuasion Political Communication
- Communication and Gender Proseminar in Communication