Don Waisanen
Professor
Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
- Biography
- Research and Creative Activity
Don Waisanen is a Professor in the Baruch College, CUNY Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, where he received the Presidential Awards for Distinguished Teaching and Distinguished Scholarship. He teaches courses and workshops in public communication—including executive speech training, communication strategy, and seminars on storytelling, conflict and negotiation, and leadership and improvisation.
All of Waisanen’s research seeks to understand how communication works to promote or hinder the force of citizens’ voices. Since “every human advancement or reversal can be understood through communication” (Walter Annenberg), he has written close to 50 scholarly publications on the subject, covering topics from strategies in public speaking to the ways that organizations and governments can better communicate with different stakeholders. He is the author of five books, including the forthcoming States of Confusion: How New Voter ID Requirements Fail Democracy and What To Do About It (with Sonia Jarvis and Nicole Gordon, under contract with New York University Press), Improv for Democracy: How to Bridge Differences and Develop the Communication and Leadership Skills Our World Needs (State University of New York Press, New Political Science series), and Real Money, Real Power? The Challenges with Participatory Budgeting in New York City (with Daniel Williams; Palgrave-Macmillan).
Previously, Waisanen worked in broadcast journalism, as a speechwriter, and continues to develop and run communication campaigns for organizations across the private and public sectors. He is the founder of Communication Upward and an adjunct lecturer at Columbia University and New York University. For the last two decades, he’s also been an improvisational performer at theaters in Los Angeles and New York.
Education
Ph.D., Communication, University of Southern California Los Angeles California
M.A., Communication, University of Southern California Los Angeles California
M.A., Communication, Pepperdine University Malibu California
B.A., Political Science/Communication, Westmont College Santa Barbara California
Books
Waisanen, D. J., Jarvis, S. R., & Gordon, N. A. (2023). States of Confusion: How Our Voter ID Laws Fail Democracy and What to Do About It. New York, NY, New York University Press.
Puligadda, S., & Waisanen, D. J. (2023). Innovation Soup: A Recipe for Organizational Success. New York, NY, Business Expert Press.
Waisanen, D. (2021). Leadership Standpoints: A Practical Framework for the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders. New York, NY, Cambridge University Press (Elements in Public and Nonprofit Administration series).
Waisanen, D. (2021). Improv for Democracy: How to Bridge Differences and Develop the Communication and Leadership Skills Our World Needs.. Albany, NY, State University of New York Press (New Political Science series).
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2020). Real Money, Real Power? The Challenges Citizens Face with Participatory Budgeting. New York, NY, Palgrave Macmillan.
Smith, R., Waisanen, D., & Barbosa, G. Y. (2019). Immigration and Strategic Public Health Communication: Lessons from the Transnational Seguro Popular Project. New York, NY, Routledge.
Waisanen, D. (2018). Political Conversion: Personal Transformation as Strategic Public Communication. Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Studies in Political Communication series).
Journal Articles
Platt, C. A., Waisanen, D., & Marichal, J. (2024). Why Do Some Shout and Others Stay Silent? Communication Context Consistency in Political Discourse Offline and on Facebook. International Journal of Communication,
Waisanen, D. J., & Becker, A. B. (2021). The Bedtime Story Wars: Children's Picturebooks as Parodic Advocacy. Communication Quarterly,
Waisanen, D., & Kafka, J. (2020). Conflicting Purposes in U.S. Education Reform: The Paradoxes of Arne Duncan's Educational Rhetoric. Rhetoric & Public Affairs,
Waisanen, D. (2018). The Comic Counterfactual: Laughter, Affect, and Civic Alternatives. Quarterly Journal of Speech,
Waisanen, D. (2017). Using the Pecha Kucha Speech to Analyze and Train Humor Skills. Communication Teacher,
Becker, A. B., & Waisanen, D. (2016). Laughing or Learning with the Chief Executive? The Impact of Exposure to Presidents’ Jokes on Message Elaboration. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 30(1). 1-19.
Waisanen, D., Friedman, H. H., & Friedman, L. W. (2015). What’s so Funny about Arguing with God? A Case for Playful Argumentation from Jewish Literature. Argumentation: An International Journal on Reasoning, 29(1). 57-80.
Waisanen, D., & Becker, A. B. (2015). The Problem with Being Joe Biden: Political Comedy and Circulating Personae. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 1-15.
Waisanen, D. (2015). A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Decorum: Quintilian’s Reflections on Rhetorical Humor. Advances in the History of Rhetoric, 18(1). 29-52.
Waisanen, D. (2015). Comedian-in-Chief: Presidential Jokes as Enthymematic Crisis Rhetoric. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 45(2). 335-360.
Waisanen, D. (2014). Toward Robust Public Engagement: The Value of Deliberative Discourse for Civil Communication. Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 17(2). 287-322.
Waisanen, D. (2013). Hermeneutic Range in Church-State Deliberation: Cross Meanings in the Los Angeles County Seal Controversy. Western Journal of Communication, 77(4). 361-381.
Waisanen, D., & Becker, A. B. (2013). From Funny Features to Entertaining Effects: Connecting Approaches to Communication Research on Political Comedy. Review of Communication, 13(3). 161-183.
Hayden, C., Waisanen, D., & Osipova, Y. (2013). Facilitating the Conversation: The 2012 Presidential Election and the Public Diplomacy of U.S. Social Media. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(11). 1623-1642.
(2013). Academic Journalism: A Modest Proposal. Journalism Studies, 15(4). 357-373.
Waisanen, D. (2013). (Trans)national Advocacy in the Ousting of Miloševic: The Otpor Movement's Glocal Recursions. Communication Studies [15% acceptance rate], 64(2). 158-177.
Remler, D., Waisanen, D., & Gabor, A. (2013). Academics as Journalists: A Modest Proposal. Journalism Studies, 15(4). 357-373.
Waisanen, D. (2012). Bordering Populism in Immigration Activism: Outlaw-Civic Discourse in a (Counter)public. Communication Monographs [Impact Factor: Ranked 1/67 in Communication, © 2011 Thomson Reuters, 2010 Journal Citation Reports®], 79(2). 232-255.
Waisanen, D. (2011). Satirical visions with public consequence?: Dennis Miller’s ranting rhetorical persona. American Communication Journal, 13(1). 24-44.
Waisanen, D. (2011). Creating a hyperreal space for comic insights: The Onion News Network’s Ironic Iconicity [Lead article]. Communication Quarterly, 59(5). 508-528.
(2011). Jokes Inviting More than Laughter…: Joan Rivers’s Political-Rhetorical Worldview. Comedy Studies, 2(2). 139-150.
(2011). Political Conversion as Intrapersonal Argument: Self-Dissociation in David Brock’s Blinded by the Right. Argumentation and Advocacy, 47(4). 228-245.
Becker, A., Xenos, M., & Waisanen, D. (2010). Sizing up The Daily Show: Audience perceptions of political comedy programming. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 18(3). 144-157.
Waisanen, D. (2009). A citizen’s guides to democracy inaction: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s comic rhetorical criticism [Lead article in this issue]. Southern Communication Journal, 74(2). 119-140.
(2008). Side-coaching the public speech: Toward improvisational delivery adjustments in the moment. Communication Teacher, 22(1). 18-21.
Book Chapters
Waisanen, D., Hahn, A., & Gander, E. (2019). Text, Talk, Argue: How to Improve Text-Driven Political Conversations. In Winkler, D. (Ed.), Networking Argument New York,United States. Routledge.
Waisanen, D. (2019). Communication Training's Higher Calling: Using a Civic Frame to Create Transparency and Elevate the Value of Services. In Wallace, J., & Becker, D. (Eds.), Handbook of Communication Training: A Best Practices Framework for Assessing and Developing Competence (pp. 21-35). New York, NY,USA. Routledge.
Waisanen, D. (2019). The Political Economy of Late-Night Comedy. In Webber, J. (Ed.), The Joke is On Us: Political Comedy in (Late) Neoliberal Times Lanham, MD. Rowman & Littlefield (Politics and Comedy: Critical Encounters series).
Waisanen, D. (2018). Arguments for Everybody: Social Media, Context Collapse, and the Universal Audience. In Lake, R. A. (Ed.), Recovering Argument (pp. 264-269). New York, NY,USA. Routledge.
Waisanen, D. (2018). The Rise of Advocacy Satire. In Baumgartner, J., & Becker, A. (Eds.), Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research Lanham, MD,United States. Rowman & Littlefield (Lexington Studies in Political Communication series).
(2017). Text, Talk, Argue: How to Improve Text-Driven Political Conversations from an Argumentation Perspective. Networking Argument (p. 12). New York City, NY,USA. Routledge.
Hoffman, D., & Waisanen, D. (2015). At the Digital Frontier of Rhetorical Studies: An Overview of Tools and Methods for Computer-Aided Textual Analysis. In Ridolfo, J., & Hart-Davidson, B. (Eds.), Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities (pp. 169-183). Chicago, IL. University of Chicago Press.
Waisanen, D. (2014). Standing-Up to Politics of Comedy. In Hart, D. (Ed.), Communication and Language Analysis in the Public Sphere Hershey, PA,USA. IGI Global.
Waisanen, D. (2014). The Onion. In Harvey, K. (Ed.), Encylopedia of Social Media and Politics (pp. 913-914). Thousand Oaks, CA,USA. CQ Press/Sage.
Waisanen, D. (2014). Shouting, Clapping, and Laughing with the Monks: Toward a Boisterous, Cosmopolitan Argumentation Pedagogy. In Palczewski, C. (Ed.), Disturbing Argument (pp. 444-450). New York, NY,USA. Routledge.
Waisanen, D. (2013). An Alternative Sense of Humor: The Problems with Crossing Comedy and Politics in Public Discourse. In Rountree, Ph.D., C. (Ed.), "Venomous Speech and Other Problems in American Political Discourse" (pp. 299-315). New York, NY,USA. Praegar.
Lageson, S., Erensu, S., Green, K., Waisanen, D., Holbert, R., LaMarre, H., Landreville, K., Williams, B., & Young, D. (2013). Laughter and the Political Landscape. In Hartmann, D., & Uggen, C. (Eds.), The Social Side of Politics (pp. 117-138). New York, NY,USA. W.W. Norton & Co..
Waisanen, D. (2011). Trust and social networks. In Barnett, G., & Golson, G. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Networking (pp. 874-877). Thousand Oaks, CA,USA. Sage Publications.
Conference Proceedings
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. J. (2021). The Language of Political Genres: Inaugural and State Speeches of New York City Mayors and US Presidents. Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association.
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. J. The Language of Political Genres: Inaugural and State Speeches of New York City Mayors and US Presidents . Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association.
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. J. The Language of Political Genres: Inaugural and State Speeches of New York City Mayors and US Presidents . Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association.
Media Contributions
Waisanen, D. J. “Improving New Yorkers’ Lives with CUNY Research.” .
Waisanen, D. Review of research via Prithvi Ayer, “The Futility Factor: How Social Media Environments Can Discourage Political Engagement,” Tech Policy Press (April 16, 2024). https://www.techpolicy.press/the-futility-factor-how-social-media-environments-can-discourage-political-engagement/.
Waisanen, D., & Copkov, A. (2024). Revitalizing University Missions with Community Engaged HyField Teaching.
Waisanen, D. (2023). "Education Matters" with Dr. Jonathan Shailor.
Interview with NPR affiliate WGTD Wisconsin on improv and education.
Waisanen, D. (2023). Improv for Bridging Differences: How to Improve Communication in Polarized Environments.
Waisanen, D. (2023). Stories Lived. Stories Told. Podcast.
Podcast interview, “Observe, Connect, Respond” (Part 1) and “Creating Third Culture” (Part 2) with the Stories Lived, Stories Told Podcast via the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution (September 18 and 25, 2023). https://open.spotify.com/episode/1hn5UL8H4jj8hohUV9Zwy6?si=e51ed99fe15f4d81&nd=1 and https://open.spotify.com/episode/1OPJH0IsW9JV0njj7NAOyx?si=49a6fe4778064ce5
Waisanen, D. (2023). Laughing Matters podcast.
Waisanen, D. J. (2022). Quoted in Liptak, K. (April 29, 2022). “‘Serious’ Joe Biden Looks to Prove He can be actually Funny.” CNN Politics. www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/white-house-correspondents-dinner-joe-biden/index.html.
Waisanen, D. J., Jarvis, S. R., & Gordon, N. A. (2022). Planning to Vote? Get Ready for Some Frustrating Changes to Your State's Voting Laws..
NYU Press From the Square Blog
Waisanen, D. J. (2022). “Effectively Communicating Financial Information.".
(2021). Act Social Film.
Remler, D., & Waisanen, D. J. (2021). Kneejerk vaccine skepticism isn’t critical thinking, (New York Daily News December 1, 2021 ).
Remler, D., & Waisanen, D. J. (2021). Kneejerk vaccine skepticism isn’t critical thinking, (New York Daily News December 1, 2021 ).
(2021). WBAI NYC 99.5.
(2021). SUM (Research, Innovation, and Creativity at CUNY).
(2021). PRSA Storytellers.
(2021). Firstroot.
(2021). The CandEs Shop Talk (Talent Board Podcast).
(2021). The Power of Public Speaking Podcast.
(2021). Second City Works Podcast.
(2021). All Power to the Developing Podcast.
(2021). The Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast with Brooke Richie-Babbage.
(2020). Forbes.
(2020). New York Community Trust webinar.
(2020). Washington D.C. Baruch alumni 25th anniversary event.
(2020). 80 Degrees Consulting Helsinki.
(2020). EMBA Course Emphasizes the Superpowers of Improvisation.
(2019). Executive Connections.
(2018). USA Today.
(2018). CMM Institute.
(2016). NTN24 International.
(2016). City and State.
(2016). The Washington Post.
(2016). Al Hurra Television.
(2016). Bloomberg View.
(2016). USA Today.
(2015). Communication Currents.
(2015). City & State.
(2015). Baruch School of Public Affairs Faculty Spotlight Article.
(2014). The Huffington Post.
(2014). Communication Currents.
(2014). The Christian Post.
(2013). The Huffington Post.
(2013). Law 360.
(2012). New York City Council, Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations.
(2012). The Ticker.
(2012). The Huffington Post.
(2012). Diction.
(2012). The Society Pages.
(2010). Sociology Improv (The Society Pages).
(2010). Public Communication: Rhetoric, Criticism, and Current Affairs.
(2010). CLU Magazine.
(2009). The Lutheran.
(2009). Ventura County Star.
(2009). Ventura County Star.
(2009). Ventura County Star.
(2008). Ventura County Star.
(2008). ThickCulture.
Presentations
Waisanen, D. Building New Democratic Worlds for Conflict Transformation: The Value of Leading with Skillful Improvisation, Inclusion, and Intangible Assets—with Actions to Take. Association for Family Therapists conference. United Kingdom: AFT.
Waisanen, D. J., & Williams, D. (2024, May 16). Real Money, Real Power? The Challenges with Participatory Budgeting in New York. PechaKucha Faculty Presentations. Baruch College: Baruch College.
Waisanen, D. J. Liberating Structures. DEI Fridays. : Baruch College.
Waisanen, D. J. Performance as Alternative Knowledge Creation in Business: A Roundtable Discussion.. Performance and Business Research Working Group. University of Calgary (Online): Calgary Institute for the Humanities.
Waisanen, D. (2021, May 29). Why Political Humor and Skilled Improvisation are Key to Our Democratic Futures. Symposium On Political Humor. Curitiba, Brazil: Universidade Federal do Paraná.
Waisanen, D. (2021, June 22). How to Hold Participatory Budgeting to Its Promises. Participatory Budgeting Global Conference. Virtual: Firstroot.
Waisanen, D. (2021, October 25). Leadership Standpoints: A Practical Framework for the Next Generation of Nonprofit Professionals. International Leadership Association conference. Geneva, Switzerland: International Leadership Association.
Waisanen, D. (2021, November 17). Using Improv On and Offline to Build the Communication, Leadership, and Civic Skills Our World Needs. National Communication Association. Seattle, Washington
Waisanen, D. (2021, November 18). Applied Improvisation for Leadership Communication Training. National Communication Association. Seattle, Washington
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2021, March 4). Real Money, Real Power?. Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management Book Talk. : Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management.
Waisanen, D. (2020, July 29). The Perfect Voting Storm: How COVID-19, Strict ID Requirements, and Partisanship Are Threatening the Right to Vote. Baruch Marxe School Virtual Talks. Online: Baruch College, CUNY.
Waisanen, D., Gordon, N., & Jarvis, S. (2020, July 29). The Perfect Voting Storm: How COVID-19, Strict ID Requirements, and Partisanship Are Threatening the Right to Vote. Baruch Marxe Talks Panel on Voting. Zoom: Baruch MSPIA.
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2019, October 21). How are Participatory Budgeting Decisions Actually Made?: Participant Observation and Qualitative Data from the NYC-PBP Project. Transatlantic Dialogue Conference. New York, NY
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2019, September 27). The Transparency of the New York City Participatory Budgeting “Budget Delegate” Process. Association for Budgeting and Financial Management Conference. Washington, D.C.: ABFM.
Waisanen, D. (2019, August 8). Improvising Democracy, What's Next?. Applied Improvisation Network World Conference. Stony Brook, New York: Applied Improvisation Network.
Waisanen, D. (2019, July 11). Strategic Communications for the Digital Age. Medgar Evers College’s Executive Leadership Certificate Program (ELCP). : Medgar Evers College, CUNY.
Waisanen, D. (2019, June 9). Play in Action in the Public Sphere: Play, Development and Social Justice. A Webinar with Antoine Joyce, Don Waisanen and Danielle Marshall, moderated by Carrie Lobman. Online: East Side Institute.
Rich, M., & Waisanen, D. (2019, May 15). Rethinking Democracy. Global Improvisation Initiative. London, U.K.: Middlesex University and the International Institute of Improvisation.
Waisanen, D. (2019, April 17). Converting from the Sixties: How Rhetorics of Party-Switching Got Us into this Mess. Popular Culture Association conference. Washington, D.C.: Popular Culture Association.
Waisanen, D. (2019, April 18). Supporting Voters in States with Voter ID Laws. : Nonprofit Vote.
Waisanen, D. (2019, April 6). Improv for Conflict Transformation. Workshop. : Columbia University.
Becker, A. B., & Waisanen, D. (2019, November 15). Trumped by a Bunny and a Boat: John Oliver and Stephen Colbert’s Crossover Children’s Books as Metanoic Vetoes. National Communication Association conference. Washington, D.C.: National Communication Association, Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.
Waisanen, D. (2018, November 9). Children should be Seen and Heard: Youth and Conversion Rhetoric in the Conservative Imagination. National Communication Association conference. Salt Lake City, UT: National Communication Association, Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.
Waisanen, D. (2018, December 13). Improv for Democracy: How to Bridge Differences and Develop the Skills Our World Most Needs. Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program. New York, NY: Columbia University.
Waisanen, D. (2018, November 9). The Political Economy of Late-Night Comedy. National Communication Association conference. Salt Lake City, UT: National Communication Association, Critical and Cultural Studies Division.
Waisanen, D. (2018, November 9). When Conversion Met Conspiracy: A Tale of Totalizing Strategies. National Communication Association conference. Salt Lake City, UT: National Communication Association, Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.
Waisanen, D. (2018, November 8). Get outside Academia and Play with Your PhD! A Seriously Fun Talk about Leaving Academia, Exploring Alt-Ac Careers, or Becoming a Hybrid Professor/Consultant.. National Communication Association conference. Salt Lake City, UT: National Communication Association, Training and Development Division.
Waisanen, D. (2018, September 21). Performing Citizenship through Applied Improvisation. Performing the World. New York, NY: East Side Institute / The All Stars Project.
Kafka, J., & Waisanen, D. (2018, April 30). Education as a Civic Marketplace: The Political Rhetoric of Arne Duncan. American Educational Research Association Conference. New York, NY: AERA.
Waisanen, D. (2018, February 21). Improv for Democracy: How to Develop the Communication, Leadership, and Civic Skills our World Needs. The School of Communication and Media Colloquium Series. Montclair State University: Montclair State University Department of Communication and Media.
Waisanen, D. (2018, April 23). Managing the Unexpected: Using Improvisation to Develop Adaptive Leaders. EMBAC Northeast Regional Conference. Baruch College, New York, NY: EMBAC.
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. (2017, October 31). The Language of Political Genres: Inaugural and State Speeches of New York City Mayors and US Presidents. New York State Communication Association Conference. Callicoon, NY: New York State Communication Association.
Waisanen, D., Hahn, A., & Gander, E. (2017, July 21). Text, Talk, Argue: How to Improve Political Conversations from an Argumentation Perspective. Alta Conference on Argumentation. Alta, UT: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2017, October 24). Improv for Democracy: How to Bridge Differences and Develop the Communication, Leadership, and Civic Skills Our World Needs. CMM Learning Exchange. London, England: CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
Smith, R., Waisanen, D., & Yrizar Barbosa, G. (2017, May 16). How We Should Communicate With Immigrants: Lessons from the Seguro Popular Healthcare Project. World Social Marketing Conference. Washington, D.C.
Waisanen, D. (2016, November 18). The Civic Value of Funny and Fictional Rhetoric: The Comic Counterfactual. Research Seminar. Philadelphia, PA: Drexel University.
Waisanen, D. (2016, June 14). “How Did Trump Happen? And What if He Wins...?”. : ThinkOlio/Cowork|rs Flatiron.
Waisanen, D. (2016, June 29). Big Picture Leadership, Management, and Organizational Communciation: Enduring Themes and Emerging Trends. New York, NY: The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.
Waisanen, D. (2016, November 10). Communication Upward: Improving Communication from the Ground Up. National Communication Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA: National Communication Association.
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. (2015, December 31). Language of Genre: Empirical Differences between Inaugural and State Speeches. Faculty Seminar. Baruch College, NYC: MSPIA, Baruch College.
Hoffman, D., Lewis, T., & Waisanen, D. (2015, November 30). Language of Genre: Empirical Differences between Inaugural and State Speeches. National Communication Association Convention. Las Vegas: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2015, September 18). Cutting Edge Communication Tools for Researchers. Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement Annual Conference. New York, NY: APRA.
Waisanen, D. (2015, August 1). Arguments for Everybody: Social Media, Context Collapse, and the Universal Audience. Alta Conference on Argumentation. Alta, UT: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D., & Becker, A. (2015, May 22). The Problem with Being Joe Biden: Political Comedy and Circulating Personae. International Communication Association conference. San Juan, Puerto Rico: International Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2015, April 24). A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Decorum: Quintilian’s Reflections on Rhetorical Humor. Eastern Communication Association conference. Philadelphia, PA: Eastern Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2014, November 21). Using Pecha Kecha to Teach Humorous Communication. National Communication Association conference. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2014, May 22). The Civic Value of Funny and Fictional Communication: The Comic Counterfactual. International Communication Association conference. Seattle, WA: International Communication Association.
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2014, June 13). Budgets on the Web. Public Financial Management Northeastern Workshop. New York, New York: SUNY Albany & Northeastern budget professors.
Williams, D., & Waisanen, D. (2014, October 3). Budgets on the Web: How Useful are Municipal Government Budget Websites?. Association for Budgeting and Financial Management conference. Grand Rapids, MI: Association for Budgeting and Financial Management.
Waisanen, D. (2014, April 26). Comedian in Chief: Presidential Humor as Enthymematic Crisis Rhetoric. Eastern Communication Association conference. Providence, RI: Eastern Communication Association.
Becker, A., & Waisanen, D. (2013, November 21). From Funny Features to Entertaining Effects: Connecting Approaches to Communication Research on Political Comedy. National Communication Association conference. Washington, D.C.: NCA.
Waisanen, D. (2013, August 1). Shouting, Clapping, and Laughing with the Monks: Toward a Boisterous, Cosmopolitan Argumentation Pedagogy. Alta Conference on Argumentation. Alta, UT: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2013, February 14). Standing Up to the Politics of Comedy: Toward a Communicative Worldview. The Handbook of Research on Institutional Language conference. Austin, TX: The University of Texas.
Waisanen, D., & Majdik, Z. (2012, May 25). Beyond Fields, Metaphors, and Games: Orders of Worth as Interstitial Rhetorics in and Between Institutions. Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Rhetoric Society of America.
Hayden, C., & Waisanen, D. (2012, November 14). Crafting Diplomacy, Digital Publics, and Meta-Pragmatic Argumentation. National Communication Association conference. Orlando, FL: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2012, April 26). From the Comedy of Politics to the Politics of Comedy: Defining a Rhetorical Genre. Eastern Communication Association. Cambridge, MA: Political Communication.
Waisanen, D. (2012, April 26). An Alternative Sense of Humor: The Problems with Crossing Comedy and Politics in Public Discourse. Eastern Communication Association conference. Cambridge, MA: Eastern Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2011, July 29). Argument Ecologies in Social Media: Populist Reason in Facebook Immigration Groups. Alta Summer Conference on Argumentation. Alta, Utah: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2011, November 20). (Trans)national Advocacy in the Ousting of Miloševic: The Otpor Movement’s Glocal Rhetorical Form. National Communication Association.
Majdik, Z., & Waisanen, D. (2011, July 28). The Challenge of Institutional Incoherence to the Idea of Reasoned Argument: Argumentation as and in Institutional Contexts. Alta Summer Conference on Argumentation. Alta, Utah: National Communication Association.
Remler, D., Waisanen, D., & Gabor, A. (2011, April 6). Academics as Journalists: A Modest Proposal. Baruch College School of Public Affairs Seminar. : Baruch College (CUNY), School of Public Affairs.
Waisanen, D. (2011, April 7). Live from New York, it’s the Patterns of Life: Saturday Night Live’s Institutions and the Communication Games We Play. Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor Conference. Orlando, FL: Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor.
Waisanen, D. (2011, April 15). Cross Meanings in the Cross Removal: The Rhetorics of the Los Angeles County Seal Controversy. Eastern Communication Association Conference. Arlington, VA: Eastern Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2010, November 16). Satirical Turns with Public Consequence? Dennis Miller’s Political Conversion. National Communication Association Conference. San Fransisco, CA: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2010, July 31). Comically Sketching Rhetorical History: The Athenian Public Forum as Critical Foundation. National Communication Association Summer Conference on Teaching Rhetorical Criticism & Critical Inquiry. Puget Sound, WA: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2010, February 28). Social Media and Higher Education: The University as New Digital Landscape. Digital Media and Learning Conference. La Jolla, CA: MacArthur Foundation and The Digital Media and Learning Hub at University of California, Irvine.
Waisanen, D. (2009, November 30). Tolerance on the Nexus of the Religious-Secular Form: The Historical Arc of the Conversion Narrative. National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2009, July 31). Facebook, Diasporic-Virtual Publics, and Networked Argumentation. Alta Summer Conference on Argumentation. Alta, UT: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2009, February 28). Vernacular Rhetorical Borders in Immigration Activism: Outlaw-Civic Discourse in a Conservative Collective. Western States Communication Association Conference. Mesa, AZ: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2009, June 30). Creating a Rhetorical Space for Comic Shocks of Insight: The Remarkable Hyperrealism of The Onion News Network. International Society for Humor Studies Conference. Long Beach, CA: International Society for Humor Studies.
Waisanen, D. (2008, November 30). Political Conversion as Rhetorical Recovery: Dissociating the Self in David Brock’s Blinded by the Right. National Communication Association Conference. San Diego, CA: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2008, September 30). Conversion Narratives in Politics. Religion and Public Life Seminar. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California.
Waisanen, D. (2008, August 31). From Colbert to counterfactual argument: Reflections on parodic public spheres. 3rd Tokyo Conference on Argumentation. Tokyo, Japan: Japan Debate Association.
Waisanen, D. (2008, February 28). Fostering the Flames of Excellence: Passing the Torch to the Next Generation. Western States Communication Association Conference. Denver, CO: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2008, February 28). Navigating Speech amidst a Sea of Feeling: A Disciplinary Turn toward Performance. Western States Communication Association Conference. Denver, CO: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2008, February 28). Political Conversion Rhetoric and Regenerative Reflexivity: David Horowitz’s Second Thoughts as Epistemological Ethos. Western States Communication Association Conference. Denver, CO: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2008, February 28). World’s Worst Public Speech. Western States Communication Association Conference. Denver, CO: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2007, November 30). Parody and Comic Character(izations): How Political Impersonations Affect Credibility. National Communication Association Conference. San Antonio, TX: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D., & Suzuki, T. (2007, July 31). Audience Deliberation in the Parodic, Epideictic Public Sphere: Polarization, Critical Engagement, or Playful Politics?. Alta Summer Conference on Argumentation. Alta, UT: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2007, February 28). Whither the Values Voters in Election 2004: The Rhetoric of the Christian Right and Left on Meet the Press. Western States Communication Association Conference. Seattle, WA: Western States Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2006, November 30). The Third-Person Effect for Late-Night Entertainment: Political Implications and the Mindful Orientation. National Communication Association Conference. Boston, MA: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. (2005, November 30). Bush and Clinton in the Comic Frame: A Rhetorical Analysis of Presidential Entertainment. National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, IL: National Communication Association.
Waisanen, D. J. Leadership Standpoints. Neil Hernandez's Public and Nonprofit Management Course
Other Scholarly Works
Waisanen, D. J. (2022). A Future for Community Engaged Learning at Baruch College.
Reviews
Waisanen, D. (2009,January 1). Identity’s Strategy: Rhetorical Selves in Conversion [Book Review]. USA: Rhetoric & Public Affairs.
Waisanen, D. (2008,January 1). The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America [Book Review]. USA: International Journal of Communication.
Waisanen, D. (2008,January 1). Culture-on-Demand: Communication in a Crisis World [Book Review]. USA: Journal of Communication and Religion.
Research Currently in Progess
Waisanen, D.(n.d.). All Politics is Language: 50 Years of Conservative Public Discourse in the U.S.. In Progress.
For nearly 50 years, the monthly publication Imprimis has been sent for free to millions of conservatives in the U.S (Imprimis, n.d.). Each issue provides readers with a full text of a recent speech given by a conservative politician, businessperson, or other figure at Hillsdale College in Michigan. In sending out this monthly pamphlet, the college has been “dedicated to educating citizens and promoting civil and religious liberty by covering cultural, economic, political, and educational issues,” since Imprimis has become “one of the most widely circulated opinion publications in the nation with over 2.9 million subscribers” (Imprimis, n.d.). Following from similar studies I have conducted in recent years (e.g. Waisanen, 2011a, 2011b, 2014a, 2014b), I will be using computer-aided textual analysis (CATA) software to analyze the complete body of monthly speeches Imprimis has sent to its constituents since the 1970s—which can now all be downloaded online at the Imprimis website (Imprimis, n.d.). With the digital humanities now flourishing across many disciplines, rhetoric studies is now well positioned to conduct larger analyses of language data than at any time in the field’s history (for a further justification on this point, see Hoffman & Waisanen, 2014). This study assumes that, ultimately, all politics is language. In other words, if politics is the “struggle over alternative realities, then language is the medium that reflects, advances, and interprets these alternatives” (Callaghan & Schnell, 2005, p. 2). As such, I’ll be using the longstanding CATA program DICTION 7.0, which I have used in previous research, to look for patterns in language across all of the Imprimis speeches distributed in the last five decades.
Waisanen, D., & Majdik, Z. P.(n.d.). Communication as Institutional Worth: A New Place for Rhetoric. In Progress.
My co-author and I are working on a theoretical project positioning communication studies, and rhetoric more specifically, as an enactment of institutional worth--following the lead of French sociologists Lauren Thevanot and Luc Boltanski.
Waisanen, D.(n.d.). Inclusive Communication Strategy: A Complete Guide for Creating Social Change . In Progress.
Planning book manuscript.
Waisanen, D.(n.d.). What Do I really need to Know about Communication? Fast, Useful, Evidence-Based Advice for Every Professional. In Progress.
Planning book manuscript.
Waisanen, D.(n.d.). Why Universities Need Community Engaged Learning—and Now. In Progress.
Waisanen, D.(n.d.). Cosmopolis: What Could Happen If Cities Took Communication Seriously. In Progress.
Waisanen, D. J., & Greene, J.(n.d.). Using Social Marketing to Motivate Gas Leak Reporting in New York City. In Progress.