CURRICULUM VITAE
CASEY R. SCHMITT
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATION
LAKELAND COLLEGE
209 William A. Krueger Hall
P.O. Box 359
Sheboygan, WI 53082
[email protected]
(608) 770-5810 [cell]
(920) 565-1000 x2300 [office]
EDUCATION
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Doctor of Philosophy: Communication Arts
Dissertation: “The Hiker and the Trail: Rhetoric and
Implacement in Designated Natural Places”
Committee Chair: Robert Glenn Howard
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Master of Arts: Communication Arts
Thesis: “Bigger and Better Than Ever: The United States
National Narrative and Buffalo Bill's Wild West”
Committee Chair: Robert Glenn Howard
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
Master of Arts: Folklore
Thesis: “Wilderness, Wildmen, and the Liminal Landscape:
An Exploration of Supernatural Space in the Oregon
Folk Tradition”
Committee Chair: Daniel Wojcik
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Bachelor of Arts: English, Distinction in Major
Bachelor of Arts: Classical Humanities, Distinction in Major
2015
2011
2008
2004
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
“Mounting Tensions: Materializing Strategies and Tactics on National Park 'Social Trails,'”
Environmental Communication (2016), forthcoming.
“Deconstructing Trailheads: Six Frames for Wilderness and a Rhetorical Intervention for
Ecology,” Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion (2016), forthcoming.
“The Tactical Trail: Sense of Place and Place of Practice,” Cultural Analysis 13 (2015),
accepted article and as guest volume editor with Anthony Bak Buccitelli.
“The Contours of the Land: Place-as-Rhetoric and Native American Effigy Mounds,” Western
Journal of Communication, 79.3 (2015): 307-326.
“Badgers vs. Weasels, and Snowmen for Democracy: Folklore and Embodiment in the 2011
Wisconsin Budget Bill Protests,” Western Folklore 72.3/4 (2013): 392-407.
“20 Years Later: Thoughts on the Folk Appeal of Christopher McCandless,” New Directions in
Folklore 11.1 (2013): 35-56.
“If a Text Falls in the Woods...: Intertextuality, Environmental Perception, and the NonAuthored Text,” Cultural Analysis 11 (2013): 17-35.
“The Barefoot Bandit, Outlaw Legend, and Modern American Folk Heroism,” Folklore 123.1
(2012): 74-83.
Response to “Mapping America: Re-creating in the Cartographic Imagination,” JoAnn Conrad,
Cultural Analysis 9 (2010): 33-35.
PEER-REVIEWED BOOK CHAPTERS
“Paradise and Warfare: Aldo Leopold and the Rhetorical Origins of Restoration Ecology,” in
The Ethics and Rhetoric of Invasion Ecology, edited by James Stanescu and Kevin
Cummings, accepted by volume editors.
“Invoking the Ecological Indian: Rhetoric, Culture, and the Environment,” in Voice and
Environmental Communication, edited by Jennifer Peeples and Stephen P. Depoe, 66-87.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
“Asserting Tradition: Rhetoric of Tradition and the Defense of Chief Illiniwek,” in Tradition in
the Twenty-First Century, edited by Trevor J. Blank and Robert Glenn Howard, 100-122.
Logan: Utah State University Press, 2013.
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment, by Mark Pedelty, Journal of
American Folklore, 128.507 (2015): 107-109.
Review of Pioneers of Ecological Restoration: The People and Legacy of the University of
Wisconsin Arboretum, by Franklin E. Court, Environmental Communication 8.3 (2014):
409-411.
Review of Death Lore: Texas Rituals, Superstitions, and Legends of the Hereafter, edited by
Kenneth L. Untiedt, Journal of American Folklore 125.495 (2012): 131-133.
SHORT PUBLICATIONS
“Dead Men Spinning: The Irony of Using Famed Ecologists as Metonyms for Environmental
Concern” Rhetorically Speaking, April 22, 2015, http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=291
“Recycling, Reinvigorated,” Wisconsin Natural Resources (August 2014): 8-10.
“Hidden Rhetorics and Secret Identities: The Question of Superhero Movies as Social
Commentary, Parts I and II,” with Rebecca Keyel, Rhetorically Speaking, June 2 and 24,
2014, http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=161 and http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?
p=181
“Struggling, Resilient: The National Congress of the American Indians Gives Washington Some
Alternatives,” Rhetorically Speaking, February 13, 2014,
http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=102
“Offense and Defense: Bob Costas Weighs in on the Washington Redskins Name Controversy,
Parts I and II,” Rhetorically Speaking, December 2 and 10, 2013,
http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=37 and http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=56
“Guerillas in the Mist: The Power of Images in the Penokee Hills Mining Controversy,”
Rhetorically Speaking, November 20, 2013, http://rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=25
FILMS
“Pre’s Rock: Legacy & Lore,” production crew, short documentary film, 2009
“Oregon: A Liminal Landscape,” 12 min. educational exhibit film, 2008
“Coffee Sunday,” 10 min. documentary film, 2007
GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS
Top Paper in Environmental Communication, “Forging the Trail Through Discourse:
Vernacular Description and Nature Place Construction,” 86 th Annual Convention of the
Western States Communication Association, 2015
Mellon-Wisconsin Summer Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2014
Top Paper in Environmental Communication, “If a Text Falls in the Woods...: Intertextuality,
Environmental Perception, and the Non-Authored Text,” 99th Annual Convention of the
National Communication Association, 2013
Blended Learning Course Development Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2013
Vance and Betty Kepley Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2013
Elliott Dissertation Scholarship, University of Wisconsin-Madison Communication Arts
Department, 2013
Vilas Travel Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012, 2014
Charline M. Wackman Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
2014
Top Paper in American Studies, “‘Bigger and Better Than Ever’: The U.S. National Narrative
and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,” 96th Annual Convention of the National Communication
Association, 2010
First Year McCarty Scholarship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2009
Alma Johnson Graduate Award, “Encounter at the Crossroads: A Cross-Cultural Folk-Religious
Motif Examined,” University of Oregon, 2008
Leon Cuthbert Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2006-2007, 2007-2008
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Assistant Professor of Communication, Lakeland College, Howards Grove, WI, August 2015Present
Lecturer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, August 2011-June 2015
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, August 2009June 2015
Instructor-Humanities, Parkland College, Champaign, IL, August 2008-May 2009
Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, December 2007-March 2008
COURSES TAUGHT
Communication 111 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking, Professor, 2015
Communication 212 – Team-Based and Group Communication, Professor, 2015
Communication 325 – New Media and Digital Communication, Professor, 2015
Communication Arts 100 – Introduction to Public Speaking, Graduate Teaching Assistant,
2009, 2010, 2014; Course Administrator, 2011
Communication Arts 181 – Elements of Speech (Honors Course), Instructor, 2014
Communication Arts 260 – Communication and Human Behavior, Graduate Teaching Assistant,
2015
Communication Arts 262 – Theory and Practice of Argumentation and Debate, Graduate
Teaching Assistant/Guest Lecturer, 2011, 2012, 2013
Communication Arts 370 – Great Speeches and Speakers, Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2010
Communication Arts 372 – Rhetoric of Campaigns and Revolutions, Grader, 2010
Communication Arts 374 – Rhetoric of Religion, Lecturer, 2012, 2013, 2014
Communication Arts 448 – Media and National Identity, Grader/Guest Lecturer, 2012
Communication Arts 470 – Contemporary Political Discourse, Grader, 2010
Communication Arts 667 – History of American Public Address: American Frontier Rhetoric,
Instructor, 2011
English 101 – Composition I, Instructor, 2008
English 102 – Composition II, Instructor, 2009
Folklore 100 – Introduction to Folklore, Lecturer, 2015; Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2011;
Guest Lecturer 2013, 2014
Folklore 410 - Magic, Myth, and Religion, Grader/Assistant, 2007, 2008
Folklore 483 - Folklore and Mythology of the British Isles, Graduate Teaching Fellow, 2008
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“The Spatial Rhetorics of Social Trails,” Rhetoric Society of America University of WisconsinMadison Student Chapter Annual Symposium, Madison, WI, 2015
“On the Offensive: Rhetorical Tactics and the 2013/14 Push to 'Change the Mascot,'” Central
States Communication Association Convention, Madison, WI, 2015
“Forging the Trail Through Discourse: Vernacular Description and Nature Place Construction,”
Annual Convention of the Western States Communication Association, Spokane, WA, 2015
“Rhetoric, Place, and Effigy Mounds: Reflexive Layering and the Presence of the Past,” Annual
Convention of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL, 2014
“Holding Up the Tower: Positioning of Self and Place in Tourist Pose Photographs,” American
Folklore Society Meeting, Santa Fe, NM, 2014
“The Threshold of Wilderness: Deconstructing Boundaries at Designated Trailheads,” Rhetoric
Society of America Conference, San Antonio, TX, 2014
“Nature, Made: Place-As-Rhetoric at the Nature Preserve Trailhead,” Central States
Communication Association Convention, Minneapolis, MN, 2014
“If a Text Falls in the Woods...: Intertextuality, Environmental Perception, and the NonAuthored Text,” Annual Convention of the National Communication Association,
Washington, DC, 2013
“The Tactical Trail: Sense of Place and Place of Practice,” American Folklore Society Meeting,
Providence, RI, 2013
“Invoking the Ecological Indian: Rhetoric, Culture, and the Environment,” Annual Convention
of the National Communication Association, Orlando, FL, 2012
“Purity, Pollution, and the Good Bad Man: The Myth of the Frontier in American Memory,”
American Folklore Society Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2012
“The Good Bad Man on the Western Frontier: Iconic Persona and National Memory,” The 2012
Film & History Conference, Milwaukee, WI, 2012
“General MacArthur's History Lesson: 'Old Soldiers Never Die' and the Rhetorical Deployment
of History Narrative,” Midwest Winter Workshop, Madison, WI, 2012
“Dwelling in the Wild West: William F. Cody and Aristotelian Ethos," Annual Convention of
the National Communication Association, New Orleans, LA, 2011
“'The Home of History and Heroism’: The U.S. National Narrative and Buffalo Bill’s Wild
West,” New England American Studies Association Annual Conference, Plymouth, MA,
2011
“Bandits Revisited: Outlaw Heroes in the Internet Age,” American Folklore Society Meeting,
Bloomington, IN, 2011
“Frederick Jackson Turner Revisited: Space and Gender in the American West," University of
Wisconsin-Madison Rhetoric Symposium, Madison, WI, 2011
“‘Bigger and Better Than Ever’: The U.S. National Narrative and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,”
Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, San Francisco, CA, 2010
“Wilderness, Westernness, Wonder, and Woe: Lay Interpretation of the Liminal Landscape,”
American Folklore Society Meeting, Nashville, TN, 2010
“Spectacle of History: Performing (and Transforming) National Identity in Buffalo Bill's Wild
West,” Western States Folklore Society Conference, Salem, OR, 2010
“Live, From New York, It’s Simulacra!: Baudrillard’s Hyperreal and Political Parody on
Saturday Night Live,” Communication Crossroads, Madison, WI, 2010
“‘Bigger and Better Than Ever’: The U.S. National Narrative and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,”
OSU/IU Folklore Conference, Columbus, OH, 2010
“Late Night Apologia: A Critical Analysis of David Letterman’s October 1 st, 2009 On-Air
Revelation-Confession,” Midwest Winter Workshop, Evanston, IL, 2010
“The McCandless Phenomenon: In Pursuit of the Magic Bus,” American Folklore Society
Meeting, Louisville, KY, 2008
“Into the (Liminal) Wild: Landscape, Liminality, and the Supernatural Encounter in Folklore,
Film, and Beyond,” Western States Folklore Society Conference, Davis, CA, 2008
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
Comm 2.0, Student Website Faculty Advisor, Lakeland College, September 2015-Present
Program Development Committee, Lakeland College, August 2015-Present
Creative Arts Division Committee, Lakeland College, August 2015-Present
Interdisciplinary Studies Division Committee, Lakeland College, August 2015-Present
Faculty Workshop Breakout Session Leader, Lakeland College, August, 2015
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
National Communication Association
Rhetoric Society of America
American Folklore Society
Western States Folklore Society
Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Reviewer, Western States Communication Association, Environmental Communication
Division, August 2015-Present
Seminar Participant, “Rhetoric and Sensation,” Rhetoric Society of America, Biennial Institute,
Madison, WI, 2015
Reviewer, National Communication Association, Critical and Cultural Studies Division, April
2015-Present
Reviewer, Contention: The Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Protest, January 2015-Present
Panel Chair: “Environmental Rhetoric,” Annual Convention of the National Communication
Association, Chicago, IL, 2014
Pre-Conference Co-Chair: “Industrial Past, Sustainable Present: Transforming Chicago's Urban
Spaces,” Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, Chicago, IL,
2014
Reviewer, Western Folklore, August 2014-Present
Outreach Committee, National Communication Association, Environmental Communication
Division, November 2013-Present
Panel Chair: “Place and Folklore: A Mutual Relationship,” American Folklore Society Meeting,
Providence, RI, 2013
Panel Chair: “A Tradition of Engaged Criticism: Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture in
Communication Arts,” University of Wisconsin-Madison Rhetoric Symposium, Madison,
WI, 2013
Reviewer, National Communication Association, Rhetorical and Communication Theory
Division, March 2013-Present
Reviewer, National Communication Association, Environmental Communication Division,
March 2013-Present
Panel Chair: “'This is What Democracy Looks Like': Voices of the 2011 Wisconsin Budget
Battle Crisis,” Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, New
Orleans, LA, 2011
Panel Chair: “Badgers vs. Weasels, and Snowmen for Democracy: Folklore and Conflict in the
2011 Wisconsin Budget Protests,” American Folklore Society Meeting, Bloomington, IN,
2011
Panel Chair: “Vernacular and Outside Art,” Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society,
Louisville, KY, October, 2008
Student Vice President, Western States Folklore Society, March 2007-March 2008
EDITORIAL SERVICE
Associate Editor, New Directions in Folklore, June 2014-Present; Editorial Board, February
2014-Present
Development and Editorial Staff, Rhetorically Speaking, May 2013-May 2015
Editorial/Media Assistant, Oral History Review, Madison, WI, January 2012-June 2012
Editorial Assistant, Western Folklore, Madison, WI, August 2009-August 2011
PUBLIC SECTOR SERVICE
Communications Specialist, Waste and Materials Management Bureau, Wisconsin Department
of Natural Resources, February 2014-July 2015
Archivist-Randall V. Mills Archive of Northwest Folklore, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR,
March 2007-June 2008
IN PROGRESS/UNDER REVIEW
"Wannabes and Avatars: Anti-Racist Allies and Ethnic Appropriation in an Age of Blogging,
Facebook, and Twitter," in Race and Ethnicity in the Virtual World: How the Digital Age is
Changing Our Impressions and Expressions, edited by Anthony Bak Buccitelli, Santa
Barbara: Praeger, accepted by volume editor.
Standing Up, Speaking Out: A Collection of Rhetorical Criticism and Comedy (co-editor, with
Matthew R. Meier), New York: Routledge, contracted for 2016 publication.
PRESS INTERVIEWS
Emily Neinfeldt, “UW grant goes to Native American students pursuing health care careers,”
The Badger Herald, November 6, 2014, http://badgerherald.com/news/2014/11/06/uwgrant-goes-to-native-american-students-pursuing-health-care-careers/#.VF-T9O2dikg
Alex Seitz-Wald, “Why Do We Love Fugitives So Much?,” Salon.com, June 27, 2013,
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/27/why_do_we_root_for_fugitives_to_evade_capture/
Julian Smith, “Jump Start: How '70s Skyjacker D.B. Cooper's Leap Launched Our Greatest
(and Maybe Last) Modern Outlaw Myth,” Portland Monthly Magazine, November 2011,
http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/articles/db-cooper-mythologynovember-2011
Laurie Stark, “What Creativity Looks Like: Art of the Wisconsin Solidarity Movement,”
Isthmus, August 11, 2011, http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=34355
PROFESSIONAL REFERENCES
Robert Glenn Howard, Director of Digital Studies, Professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture,
Professor of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies, 6040 Vilas Hall, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, 608-262-2605,
[email protected]
Stephen E. Lucas, Evjue-Bascom Professor in the Humanities - Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture,
6037 Vilas Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI
53706, 608-262-2095, [email protected]
Susan Zaeske, Associate Dean for Advancement, Arts & Humanities, College of Letters &
Science, 0301C South Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1055 Bascom Mall,
Madison, WI 53706, 608-263-7221, [email protected]
Karma Chávez, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture, 6170 Vilas Hall,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, 608-2654503, [email protected]
Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, 6146 Vilas Hall, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, 608-263-2541,
[email protected]
Jim Leary, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures and Professor
of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies, 2315 Sterling Hall, 475 N. Charter St.,
Madison, WI 53706, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 608-262-3059, [email protected]
Robert Asen, Professor of Rhetoric, Politics and Culture, 6142 Vilas Hall, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, 608-263-1418,
[email protected]