Professor Michael Lee is a Communications professor at the College of Charleston with a Ph.D. in Communication studies, an M.A. in Communication, and a B.A. in Political Science. Besides teaching courses that focus on public speaking, argumentation, persuasive managing, political campaigns, and media in politics as well as researching political branding and audience responsiveness in American politics, Professor Lee is also the director of graduate studies at the College of Charleston. As one can see, communications is a wide-range field of study.
Professor Lee makes clear that Communications “as a field is quite diverse,” offering possibilities in many different types of work including marketing, media, advertising, PR work, and consumer research. So, when asked to define communications, Lee led me to the original definition of rhetoric (a sub-area he studied) explaining it “as the faculty of observing the means of persuasion in any particular case. To drive this point even further, Lee stated that from his teaching, he wants his students “to become better arguers.” He says, “I hope that they’ll be more attuned to making precise arguments with plausible evidence, and I hope they’ll demand precise arguments with plausible evidence from others.”
Through communications, Lee is directly involved in Southern Studies personally and professionally. His personal connection to the south grew strongly in his time at the University of Georgia where he discovered college debate, which was the spark that became a wildfire of interest in communications for Professor Lee. In fact, he went on to write a book called Creating Conservatism: Postwar Worlds that Made an American Movement that deals with the postwar growth of conservatism and conservative politics. When asked what he wants his readers to take away from the book, Lee said, “I hoped that readers would understand that the growth of conservatism as a movement was tied to 10 or so key books all written after World War II. I wanted readers to understand that the key words and phrases of conservative politics are directly tied to several sacred texts.” Because of the book’s immense success, Lee has spoken about his findings at top-of-the-line Universities such as University of Richmond, MIT, and University of Minnesota (where he earned his Ph.D.).
Becoming a successful communications academic is not only about hard work. Success in all fields comes to those who put in the work AND attempt every day, to the best of their ability, to enjoy life with a fine set of morals. Lee exhibits both of these extremely important factors and attempts to instill them in his students as well. To prove this, I asked Professor Lee what he pushes his students to achieve, and he said, “ I’d like them to enjoy their lives and make the world a little better at the same time.”
As an extra, interesting piece of this blog post, I decided to have Professor Lee choose one of his favorite quotes. He responded with a very timely and telling George Orwell quote: “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
