A Celebration of Dr. Jacqueline Jones Royster

Saturday, September 30th at 4:00pm EST

This event will be live-streamed.

Dr. Royster, Professor Emerita and former Dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts (2010 – 2019), is an alumna of Spelman College. This year we celebrate Dr. Royster as an illustrious example of Spelman’s transformative education as we honor Dr. Royster’s contributions to the fields of rhetoric, composition, literacy studies, women’s studies, and African-American studies. Dr. Royster’s exemplary scholarship has resulted in numerous foundational texts, including Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1997), Traces of a Stream: Literacy and Social Change among African American Women (2000), Profiles of Ohio Women, 1803-2003 (2003), Feminist Rhetorical Studies: New Horizons in Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies (2012), and – most recently – Making the World a Better Place: African-American Women Advocates, Activists, and Leaders, 1773-1900 (2023).

Dr. Royster’s scholarly expertise has re-shaped the rhetorical canon by including voices of African-American women who have been silenced in US historical and cultural studies. Likewise, her leadership in the field, notably for the Rhetoric Society of America, the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication, has re-shaped the opportunities for women – and especially Black women – as leaders within the fields of rhetoric, composition, and writing studies.

Dr. Royster is welcomed back to campus by the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics Deconference Chair, Dr. Michelle Robinson, Professor of English and Director of the Comprehensive Writing Program at Spelman College. In conversation, Dr. Robinson explores the contributions of Dr. Royster’s work and the significance of her homecoming for the Deconference.