School of Media & Communication

Dr. Chick graduated from Georgetown College in 2014 with a B.A. in Communication and Media Studies and in 2016 from Western Kentucky University (Go Tops!) in Organizational Communication. He went on to receive his PhD from the University of Kansas (#RockChalkJayhawk) in 2023 in Rhetoric and Political Communication, with special emphasis on developing a theory of civility and incivility responsive to diverse needs in pluralistic societies. Dr. Chick currently teaches Persuasion (COMM346) and Introduction to Public Speaking (COMM145), with past courses covering topics such as Rhetoric and Social Influence, Critical Approaches to Corporate and Organizational Communication, Presidential Rhetoric, Persuasive Speaking, among others. 

"To date, his research has led to four peer reviewed publications, nearly two dozen competitively refereed conference presentations, and numerous departmental, university, and disciplinary awards. His most recent publication, "Memorializing Senator McCain's Uncivil Tongue: Invitational Rhetoric and the Problem of Confrontation and Violence," calls attention to the limitations of prescriptive theories of civility—particularly their detachment from the material reality of the people they seek to constrain. In this essay, Dr. Chick lays out the need for a material approach to civility standards, one which enables strict civility rules on occasions where necessary and strong protest that violates civility norms on others. Awards include two awards for outstanding scholarship from the KU's Department of Communication, a University Graduate Fellowship from KU, and three top paper awards from the Central States Communication Association. 

"Currently, Dr. Chick is participating in a pilot program investigating the use of open educational resource (OER) textbooks for COMM145. Notably, OERs uphold the same rigorous education standards as courses utilizing expensive paid textbooks, while remaining entirely open-source and free to use for instructor and student alike. He is also revising his dissertation for publication in scholarly journals, having already received a revise and resubmit from the Quarterly Journal of Speech, one of the top journals in the Communication discipline.

View Curriculum Vitae

Chick, D.M. (2021). Memorializing senator McCain’s “uncivil tongue”: Invitational rhetoric and the problem of confrontation and violence. Southern Communication Journal, 86(4), 320-334.

Chick, D.M. (2021). A jeremiadic eulogy: George W. Bush’s defense of the forum. In D. Hample (Ed.), Local Theories of Argument (pp. 130-135). Taylor & Francis. 

Chick, D.M. (2021). Critical pedagogy of preparation: A theory of best practices for introductory course relevance. Basic Communication Course Annual, 33, 27-56. 

Chick, D.M. (2020). #ActsOfCivility: Implicit arguments for the role of civility and the paradox of confrontation. Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 10(1/2), 37-53.