The Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (CRS) and the Department of Foundation in the (VPA) have announced two new department chairs, effective July 1. Both chairs are current members of the faculty.
Cynthia Gordon
Associate Professor is the new chair of CRS. She succeeds Amos Kiewe, who will continue to serve as a professor on the CRS faculty. Gordon uses theories and methods of discourse analysis to examine everyday social interaction, with a focus on communication among family members. She is particularly interested in interactional sociolinguistics, theories of framing and intertextuality and the linguistic construction of relationships and identities. She has participated in collaborative research projects on family and medical communication and has recently become interested in how parents and children create and negotiate health routines.
Chris Wildrick
Associate Professor is the new chair of the Department of Foundation, which offers a curriculum of introductory courses specifically for first-year students in VPA’s Departments of Art and Design. He succeeds Joanna Spitzner, who will continue to serve as an associate professor on the foundation faculty. Wildrick is a conceptual, performance and systems artist. He teaches two-dimensional foundation classes and such electives as bookmaking. He is also studying to become a self-taught, professional paleontologist. View his projects at .
