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Gary C. Woodward, Ph.D.

headshotProfessor of Rhetorical Theory, Retired

Email: woodward@tcnj.edu
Website: https://theperfectresponse.com/


Dr. Gary C. Woodward has taught in England as well as the United States, receiving research support at various times from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The College of New Jersey research fund, CBS and C-SPAN. He has served as Chairperson of the Department of Communication Studies, and is Series Editor for Lexington Books’ Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric.  Dr. Woodward retired from TCNJ in June of 2020.  Courses taught while here at the College include COM 310 Theories of Persuasion, COM 241 Argumentation and Debate, and COM 313 Philosophy of Communication.

Woodward’s research and teaching interests in the field of communication include theories of persuasion, political communication, argumentation, and philosophy of communication.  He is the co-author (with Robert E. Denton Jr.) of Persuasion and Influence in American Life (Waveland, 2014), now in its seventh edition. With Denton he also co-wrote ground-breaking editions of Political Communication in America. (Praeger/Greenwood, 1998).

He is also the sole author of Persuasive Encounters: Case Studies of Constructive Confrontation (Praeger, 1990), Perspectives on American Political Media (Allyn and Bacon, 1997), The Idea of Identification (State University of New York Press, 2003), Center Stage: Media and the Performance of American Politics (Roman and Littlefield, 2007), and The Perfect Response: Studies of the Rhetorical Personality (Lexington, 2010), and The Rhetoric of Intention in Human Affairs (Lexington, 2013).

Woodward blogs at theperfectresponse.com, and has contributed to articles at CNN.com, the Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor and many others. He is also a regular guest columnist on aspects of everyday communication for The Trenton Times and NJ.com. Some of his recent articles can be found below.

The Fraudulence of Online Anonymity 
The Endangered Species of Face-to-Face Communication
Consuming Digital Media – There are risks to drinking from a fire hose
The American pitch
Preserving another’s Freedom to Disagree
Forty Years and Four Hundreds Yards Apart

Dr. Woodward had some thoughts on the Communication Studies department:

“An important strength of this program is how well it works with so many students and faculty pursuing different interests and subjects. We’ve been able to find common objectives and sympathies while working on very different types of subjects.”

More information on Dr. Woodward’s books can be found by clicking on their covers.

the perfect response center stage Political communication in America
perspectives on american political media Persuasion and Influence in American Life
Rhetoric-of-Intention-Book-Cover-188x300  Persuasive Encounters  communication in a distracted world

 

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