College of Letters & Science Dean Gary Sandefur names Sue Zaeske Letters & Science Associate Dean for Advancement, Arts, and Humanities beginning June 1, 2011.
Dean Sandefur's memorandum reads:
"I am pleased to announce that Susan Zaeske, professor of communication arts, has agreed to serve as Letters & Science Associate Dean for Advancement, Arts, and Humanities beginning June 1, 2011.
She succeeds Magdalena Hauner, professor of African Languages and Literature. Magdalena and Sue will work together over the summer.
In addition to working in the traditional role of Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities, Sue will serve in a newly-created role as Associate Dean for Advancement, assisting me with alumni relations,communications and marketing, and fund raising.
Sue will head up thenewly formed advancement unit within the college consisting of MeganCostello, Sarah Morton, and Ann Groves Lloyd. Advancement willconstitute about 35 percent of the job while Arts and Humanities will be 65 percent.
Many of you know Sue from her many contributions to Letters & Science and the campus.
She has served as chair of the Department of Communication Arts since 2008. She has served as chair of the Arts and Humanities Divisional Committee, co-chair of the Humanities Advisory Board, a member of the Committee on Faculty Benefits and Economic Compensation, the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities, the Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Research Enterprise, the Vice Provost's Tenure Conversation Group, the Committee on Honorary Degrees, and others.
Recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award and a Lilly Teaching Fellowship, Zaeske is instructor of the popular lecture course Great Speakers and Speeches. She also teaches a number of courses on American public discourse including African-American rhetoric, women’s discourse, presidential rhetoric, and social movement discourse.
She has facilitated experiential education courses on African-American and LGBTQ civil rights history in which she had led students through travels to meet movement activists and visit historical sites.
Zaeske joined the communication arts faculty in 1996. Her research centers on rhetoric, history, gender, race, and political culture. Her work is interdisciplinary, and she has published scholarly articles and book chapters in the fields of history, English, political science, and communication. Her work has garnered several major national awards, including the National Communication Association's 2004 James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address for Signatures of Citizenship: Petitioning, Antislavery, and Women’s Political Identity (University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
In recognition of her significant scholarship and contributions to campus, Zaeske was named a Letters & Science Faculty Fellow (2008-2013), and is among the first faculty to receive this award. She previously received a Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award (2003) and was a Vilas Research Associate (2003-05).
She holds a BA in communication arts and journalism with a certificate in Gender and Women's Studies, and an MA, and PhD in communication arts, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, Zaeske was employed as a reporter and copy editor for the Milwaukee Journal, the Racine Journal-Times, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and the Wisconsin State Journal."