The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts

About Deanna D. SellnowThomas G. Endres

Deanna D. Sellnow is a professor of strategic communication in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida. She conducts research in two major areas. The first focuses on strategic instructional communication in a variety of contexts including both in-person and online classrooms as well as risk crisis and health communication contexts. The second focuses on rhetorical studies of popular culture (ranging from music to advertisements to television programs and feature films). She has conducted funded research for the World Health Organization (WHO) the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her work is published in refereed national and international journals as well as several books. She has presented her work across the United States and in many countries around the world including Canada China Denmark Egypt England Germany Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Senegal Singapore Spain Sweden Türkiye and Vietnam. She and her husband Tim have a daughter (Debbie) and son-in-law (Scott) son (Rick) and daughter-in-law (Sarah) and three grandchildren (Lincoln Emmett and Rosemary). Thomas G. Endres is a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Colorado where he serves as coordinator to the Leadership Studies (LEAD) minor and to the Extended Campus online degree completion program. In a career marked primarily by administrative (chair or director) responsibilities he found time to conduct research in the areas of pedagogy popular culture and rhetoric. He has published several dozen refereed articles book chapters conference proceedings and an encyclopedia entry applying Bormanns Symbolic Convergence Theory to the study of rhetorical communities; examining such diverse collectives as single mothers father-daughter dyads laity in the Catholic church and tattooed people. He is author and photographer of two books: Sturgis Stories: Celebrating the People of the Worlds Largest Motorcycle Rally and most recently My Costume Myself: Celebrating Stories of Cosplay and Beyond. He has delivered more than 250 presentations workshops and keynote addresses across the United States and in countries such as Austria China the Czech Republic Japan Spain Thailand Turkey and the United Kingdom. Tom has four children (three daughters one son) and at the time of writing two grandchildren. He lives in Greeley CO with his wife Maki Notohara Endres.