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| Midwest Speech Association | |
|---|---|
| Name | Midwest Speech Association |
| Formation | 1931 |
| Type | Professional association |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Region served | Midwestern United States |
| Membership | Scholars, teachers, practitioners |
| Leader title | President |
Midwest Speech Association is a regional professional association that brought together scholars, teachers, and practitioners in the fields of rhetoric, public speaking, debate, theatre, and communication studies in the Midwestern United States. Founded in the early 20th century, the organization served as a nexus for collaboration among faculty from universities, colleges, and secondary schools, connecting work in rhetoric, performance, argumentation, pedagogy, and applied communication. Its activities included annual conferences, peer-reviewed publications, awards, and regional networking that influenced curricular development and research agendas across multiple institutions.
The association traces origins to interwar efforts that paralleled national developments such as the establishment of the National Communication Association and the reorganization of departments at institutions like University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, and University of Michigan. Early meetings featured participants from Indiana University Bloomington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Iowa State University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Notre Dame, University of Missouri, University of Kansas, and Kansas State University. Influences included prominent rhetoricians and educators associated with Harvard University, Columbia University, Yale University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, and Syracuse University. Conferences often intersected with activities at regional theater programs such as Steppenwolf Theatre Company and with debate traditions linked to Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Chi, Pi Kappa Delta, and National Forensic League (now National Speech & Debate Association). Over decades, the association adapted to shifts signaled by scholarship from figures associated with Kenneth Burke, Chaim Perelman, Stephen Toulmin, Wayne Booth, Walter Ong, Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, and Richard Rorty as departments at Ohio University, Miami University, Ball State University, Western Michigan University, Eastern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and University of Akron expanded programs.
The association articulated goals emphasizing professional development, curricular standards, scholarly exchange, and public engagement. It aimed to foster research aligned with methodological strands represented at conferences like those of American Philosophical Association, Modern Language Association, American Educational Research Association, Society for Text and Discourse, and International Communication Association. Objectives included supporting teachers from Cleveland State University, Wright State University, Dayton University, University of Toledo, Marquette University, Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University, Northern Illinois University, and Illinois State University; promoting student activities connected to National Communication Association affiliate programs; and encouraging collaboration with cultural institutions such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater and museums like the Art Institute of Chicago.
Membership comprised faculty, graduate students, secondary-school instructors, and independent practitioners drawn from a wide array of institutions: Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, Rutgers University–Camden, Cleveland Institute of Art, Case Western Reserve University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Macalester College, Carleton College, St. Olaf College, Grinnell College, and Earlham College. Governance typically included an elected executive council with roles mirroring structures at American Council on Education affiliates and regional associations like the Southern States Communication Association and Western States Communication Association. Committees addressed pedagogy, research, student activities, inclusion, and liaison work with organizations such as Council for Basic Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and state education boards in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas.
Annual conferences rotated among host campuses including University of Cincinnati, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, University of Iowa, University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, North Dakota State University, University of North Dakota, and Montana State University. Programs typically featured panels on rhetoric and public address, argumentation and debate, performance studies, speech pathology intersections at Rush University Medical Center, communication ethics, media studies referencing outlets like the Chicago Tribune and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and pedagogy sessions influenced by syllabi from Harvard, Stanford University, Princeton University, and Yale. Keynote speakers over time included scholars affiliated with University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A&M University. Local partnerships connected conferences with cultural venues such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Civic Opera House, Chicago Theatre, Saint Louis Art Museum, and regional festivals like the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The association sponsored proceedings and newsletters circulated among departments at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, Emory University, Vanderbilt University, Duke University, North Carolina State University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It administered awards for research, teaching, and service modeled on honors conferred by Modern Language Association and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and coordinated graduate student recognitions similar to those from Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi. Publications drew on editors and reviewers from institutions such as Brown University, Dartmouth College, University of Virginia, William & Mary, Tulane University, Rice University, University of Florida, and Florida State University.
Leadership and notable members included figures who held chairs or taught at University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, Purdue University, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Kansas, Iowa State University, University of Notre Dame, and Marquette University. Affiliations also extended to scholars associated with national bodies such as National Endowment for the Humanities, Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, Council on Competitiveness, and American Association of University Professors. Honorary figures included emeriti from Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Princeton University, and Stanford University who contributed to panels and mentorship.
The association influenced curricular standards at undergraduate and graduate programs across institutions including Ohio University, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, Purdue University, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Iowa, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, and Iowa State University. Its conferences and publications fostered scholarship linking rhetorical history, performance studies, debate theory, and pedagogical innovation—work that intersected with research agendas at National Communication Association, International Communication Association, Modern Language Association, American Educational Research Association, and Society for Discourse Studies. Through awards, workshops, and regional networks, the association contributed to professional trajectories leading to appointments at major universities and to curricular reforms affecting secondary and postsecondary instructors across the Midwest and beyond.