UW-Parkside
Assistant Professor
Communication
Areas of expertise: Argumentation, Legal Discourses, Rhetoric & Rhetorical Leadership, Social Movements, Women’s and Gender Studies
Hilary Rasmussen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication. She has her Ph.D. in Communication with certifications in Rhetorical Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and her MA in Communication with an emphasis in Women’s Historical Rhetoric from Northern Illinois University.
Dr. Rasmussen’s research focuses on intersections between public and legal sphere argumentation. She belongs to regional and national academic organizations, including Central States Communication Association, Rhetoric Society of America, and National Communication Association, in which she serves as the Past-Chair of the Communication and Law Division.
TEACHING AND LEARNING PHILOSOPHY
Committed to an ethical paradigm rooted in social justice, I encourage students to take ownership of their education by promoting a collaborative atmosphere. I subscribe wholeheartedly to the notion that teaching is one of the best ways to learn. As such, students learn praxis for developing, consuming, and critiquing oral and written communication. I, in turn, learn a great deal from my students. Students are shown that I care about their interests as individuals and strive to make them feel that their time, their talents, and their perspectives are valued. Establishing a sense of collaboration along with rigorous standards for achievement is a difficult balance to strike. However, I have found that students often meet your expectations of them, whether those expectations are low or high, and I expect a great deal from my students. I am an educator who emphasizes student empowerment, social responsibility, and collaboration.My teaching and learning philosophy reflects a commitment on my part to support, inspire, and challenge students; to make course materials accessible to students; and to help students learn to think critically and independently.
