“Saint Mary’s has really shown me how to be not just an effective communicator, but a compassionate listener.”
- Meredith Mackowicz
Faculty Profiles
Michael R. Kramer
Professor
Department Chair
Communication Studies
Phone
Education
PhD, University of Minnesota
JD, University of Wisconsin, Madison
MA, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
BS, Winona State University
Research Interests
- Political communication
- Apologia and image restoration
- Presidential rhetoric
- Rhetorical criticism of comic books and graphic novels
- Public memory and material rhetorics
Courses Recently Taught
- COMM 302: History and criticism of public address
- COMM 308: Persuasion
- COMM 330: Critical issues in mass communication
- COMM 383: Art and entertainment law
- COMM 495: Seminar in rhetoric and criticism
Professional Experience
- Spent seven years working in state and federal courts after earning a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and prior to becoming a professor
Creative and Scholarly Work
- "Image Repair Rhetoric and Shock Radio: Don Imus, Al Sharpton, and the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team Controversy." Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 21(2) (2014): 247-257.
- "Strict Father or Nurturant Parent? President Jimmy Carter’s Rhetoric of Morality in Support of the Panama Canal Treaties." Carolinas Communication Annual, 28 (2012): 61-90.
- "Temporal Ethos: A Shifting Rhetorical Resource in Arguments about War and Peace." Florida Communication Journal, 37 (2008): 12-26.
- Kramer, M., K. Olson. "The Strategic Potential of Sequencing Apologia Stases: President Bill Clinton's Self-Defense in the Monica Lewinsky Scandal." Western Journal of Communication, 66 (2002): 347-368.
Professional Memberships
National Communication Association
State Bar of Wisconsin