Past Conferences > Visual Communication: Rhetoric & Technology IV
(April 10-13, 2008)

The 2008 Kern conference was the biggest and most diverse yet, as reflected in the following statistics: Conference participants represented four countries, Austria, Canada, Slovakia and the United States. A total of 96 participants presented papers or chaired scholarly panels. Scholars from 50 different private and public universities in twenty-five states presented their work in a wide variety of research related to visual communication.

The Keynote speaker, Thomas W. Benson, presented a talk,  “Look! Rhetoric! Political Posters, Berkeley, California, May 1970”

Plenary events included presentations by Paul Martin Leste; Roger Remington; and Ron Osgood who also presented a full screening of his documentary film, My Vietnam Your Iraq.

A Master Panel,  "Blogging Visual Politics," organized and chaired by Cara Finnegan, featured visual rhetoric scholar/bloggers, and explored the blog as a compelling public forum for visual engagement and political critique. Presenters includedJohn LucaitesandRobert Hariman, Jim Johnson, and Michael Shaw

A second Master Panel, “Visual Rhetoric: Past Present and Future” organized and chaired by Lester Olson, provided an occasion to reflect on past studies of visual rhetoric with an eye to priority setting for the future of scholarship in the area and featured panelists Carolyn Handa, Charles Hill, Marguerite Helmers, and Kevin M. DeLuca.

The conference banquet ended with after dinner remarks, “The Rhetoric of Jonathan Swift's A TALE OF A TUB” by Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Stanley D. McKenzie, Rochester Institute of Technology.