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Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
Professor, Dept. of Communication Studies, Vanderbilt University

Research/Pegagogical Interests: Rhetorical Theory and Criticism, Public Discourse, Gender Studies, Media and Cultural Criticism

Background/Present:

I received my B.S. in Media/Advertising from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC) in 1985 and worked the following year at a full service marketing firm in Chapel Hill, NC. From 1986-1988, I worked on my Master's in Speech Communication at the University of Georgia. From 1988-1992, I was at the University of Iowa, where I received my Ph.D. in Communication Studies. After a three year teaching assignment at Drake University in the Dept. of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, I began my current position at Vanderbilt. In Spring 2005, I was promoted to Professor of Communication Studies.
I am currently (2007-2010) serving as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Like the entire faculty of our Department, I work hard to maintain a relationship between my research and teaching interests. For instance, I have published work that focuses on mass media production and consumption and use this background in my Rhetoric of Mass Media course. My current research on public discussions of gender ambiguity led to the creation of a course entitled "The Rhetoric of Gender Trouble." As a result, I try to encourage students to work, write, and speak on areas that are vital to their lives--past and potential.
In 1996, I published my first book, The Cultural Prison (University of Alabama Press), which was published in paperback in 2006..
In 2002, Temple University Press published Shifting Borders: Rhetoric, Immigration, and California’s "Proposition 187, a book I co-authored with Kent Ono (Director of Asian American Studies, University of Illinois). The University of Massachusetts Press published my, Disciplining Gender: Rhetorics of Sex Identity in Contemporary U.S. Culture, in 2004.
I am currently working on my next project, which investigates the relationship between gender, sexuality, citizenship, and transportation technologies as media. The first essay emerging from this work will be published in the journal Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies.
On a separate note, I am currently serving as editor of Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies for Volumes 4-6, to be published 2007-2009.
For an overview of my research and service, see my vita.

Courses taught (note: the courses below are no longer web links, as I am moving all courses to Blackboard)

Rhetoric of Mass Media (CMST241)
Rhetoric of Popular Music (CMST294)
Rhetoric of Social Movements (CMST 224)
Contemporary Rhetorical Theory (CMST257)
Rhetoric of Gender Trouble (CMST294)
Communication, Culture, Consciousness (CMST242)
Public Speaking (CMST 100)
Rhetoric and Civic Life (CMST 210)
Methods of Rhetorical Analysis (CMST 254)
Mass Mediated Politics: Issues and Images (HUM161)
Lessons from "Lost" (CMST115W)

Relaxation Interests:

Mail (and Marlon Brando postcards) can be sent to:

John Sloop
Box 1558, Station B
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37235
Office: 615-322-2988
Fax: 615-343-7918

Email me at john.m.sloop@vanderbilt.edu