Holder Lecture
Each Spring semester, the Kenneth R. Holder Memorial Lecture brings a scholar in language theory, writing, or education to meet with classes and to deliver a lecture open to the public.
The Holder Lecture was established in 1991 by the Department of English to honor the life of Dr. Kenneth R. Holder, Professor of English and Provost at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Dr. Holder joined the faculty in 1972, and served as Provost from 1987 to 1991. His specialties in the English Department were linguistics—which he introduced as a course to the department—history of English, writing, and English Education. As Provost, he focused on strengthening instructional practices through technology and writing among the faculty.
Spring 2025 Holder Lecture
Danielle Nielsen, Ph.D., Professor of English from Murray State University, will speak about “Accessibility in Teaching and Learning” when she delivers the annual Holder Lecture on Thursday, April 24.
Nielsen a scholar of rhetoric, the British Empire, and late-Victorian literature, is interested in how we navigate the world around us through texts, from classroom texts to cookbooks and travel narratives and Keanu Reeves’ memes. Her scholarly work has been published in College Teaching, Gender & History, Rhetoric Review, Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, and other scholarly venues. She received her undergraduate degree from Nebraska Wesleyan ('04) and her MA ('06) and Ph.D. ('11) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.
The Holder Lecture will begin at 4 p.m. in the Acklie Hall of Science in Room 207 and is free and open to the public.
Past Holder Lecturers
| Year | Lecturers | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Barry M. Kroll, Ph.D. professor emeritus from Lehigh University | “Learning to Argue Differently” |
| 2022-23 | Twyla Hansen independent writer and speaker | “Nibbling at the Edge of Something Vast” |
| 2021-22 | Douglas Hesse professor of writing in the Department of English at the University of Denver | “The Creative Coordinates of Contemporary Nonfiction: Matters for Readers and Writers” |
| 2020-21 | Daniel Willingham professor of psychology at the University of Virginia | "Digital Technology and the Future of Education" |
| 2018-19 | K. David Harrison associate provost, professor of linguistics, Swarthmore College | "Endangered Languages" |
| 2017-18 | Ben Crystal Actor, author and producer | "Spehk thuh speech uh press yuh Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation" |
| 2016-17 | Tessa Jolls President and CEO of the Center for Media Literacy | “Powershift: Redefining our Media Relationships and Culture” |
| 2015-16 | Dr. Stephen Buhler University of Nebraska – Lincoln | “Eloquence in Action: Rhetorics of Response in Shakespeare” |
| 2014-15 | Joan Hughes University of Texas – Austin | “iPads and Their Impact on Literacy” |
| 2013-14 | Carole Levine and Patricia Sullivan University of Nebraska and State University of New York, New Paltz | "Powerful Women in the Renaissance and Today: The Rhetoric of Queen Elizabeth I and Hillary Clinton" |
| 2012-13 | Malea Powell Michigan State University | “Rhetorical Powwows: Making American Indian Rhetorics” |
| 2011-12 | LuMing Mao Miami University | “Beyond Bias, Binary, and Border Enacting a Discursive Third in Comparative Rhetoric” |
| 2010-11 | Maha Baddar Pima Community College, Tucson, AZ | “From Athens (Via Alexander) to Baghdad: Medieval Arabic Rhetoric as Dialogic” |
| 2009-10 | Jennifer Cognard-Black St. Mary’s College of Maryland | “Eat My Words: Teaching Writing through the Literatures of Food” |
| 2008-09 | Sid Dobrin University of Florida | "Ecoseeing: Rhetoric, Writing, Images, and Nature” |
| 2007-08 | Jeffrey Hammond St. Mary’s College of Maryland | “Hugging the Shore: Reflections on Creative Nonfiction” |
| 2006-07 | John McWhorter Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow in Public Policy Contributing Editor to City Journal | “Language is a Lava Lamp” |
| 2005-06 | Daryl Baldwin Miami University | “The Myaamia Project: Language and Culture Reclamation” |
| 2004-05 | Robert Jensen University of Texas – Austin | “The Myth of Neutrality: Journalists, Academics and Power” |
| 2003-04 | Susan Swan Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi | “Civic Engagement and Rhetorical Praxis: Strategies for Making Social Justice Work” |
| 2002-03 | Jan Swearingen Texas A&M University | “Rhetorical Traditions and the Contemporary Academy: the Past Meets the Present, Once Again” |
| 2001-02 | Peter Vandenberg DePaul University | “Intentions in Tension: Advanced Composition As Literate Practice” |
| 2000-01 | William Thelin University of Cincinnati | “Issues of Class and Composition Theory” |
| 1999-00 | Mary Rose O’Reilley Saint Thomas University | “Taking the Moi Out of Memoir” |
| 1998-99 | Richard Leo Enos Texas Christian University | “Recovering the Lost Art of Researching the History of Rhetoric” |
| 1997-98 | Jim Corder Texas Christian University | "How Many Rhetorics Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?” |
| 1996-97 | Andrea Lunsford The Ohio State University | “Women and the Rhetorical Tradition” |
| 1995-96 | Jeanne Gunner Chapman University | “The Story of Basic Writing” |
| 1994-95 | Cynthia Selfe Michigan Technological University | “The Practice, Instruction, Politics, and Study of Literacy in Computer Supported Environments” |
| 1993-94 | Christina Murphy Texas Christian University; now Marshall University | |
| 1992-93 | Fern Kupfer Iowa State University, with husband Joe Geha | |
| 1991-92 | Joy Ritchie University of Nebraska-Lincoln | |
| 1990-91 | Les Whipp University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Inaugural Lecture |