Common Ground

Last time I proposed that public speaking is not a standard course at liberal arts schools (the top half or so of US News And World Report's approximately 150 National Liberal Arts Colleges). However, these schools clearly value public speaking and communication skills; presentation skills are often integrated into class assignments, part of a degree requirement, or an outcome in an academic programs. Thus, speech skills seem definitely expected, and do appear as a lower level learning outcome, but are rarely the basis of an entire course.  (This makes sense, in that it seems that these institutions see public speaking as a skill instead of an area of academic content.)

If public speaking skills are taught in an ancillary fashion at these schools, where and how does this take place?

One consistent home for teaching or reinforcing speech skills is the academic resource center -- the place where students go for tutoring or skills sessions, which could range from writing to time management. These centers are apt for working on speech because one-on-one tutoring is typically provided. Wellsley College is a prime example. Their Learning and Teaching Center provides public speaking tutors and, at one time, offered a class on public speaking during their wintersession. (They also had a Toastmaster's Club.) Another is Mt. Holyoke's Speaking, Arguing, and Writing (SAW) Center -- part of the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts, which also contains centers for Community Based Learning, ESL, and Teaching and Faculty Development Initiatives. The SAW Center features peer tutors and, although the website stresses writing, the peer tutors are also audiences for delivery and even filming of a speech. But SAW goes beyond a resource for speaking and writing; it is a student partner for developing  a critical argument, whether written or spoken. "SAW Peer Mentors welcome fellow MHC students who want to talk about their writing and speaking projects and grow as confident, critical, creative, and persuasive communicators." The SAW Center is of particular interest because it focuses not just on public speaking mechanics, but on the rhetorical aspect of communication. 

Hamilton College in Central New York, home for 1800 students, also provides a support center for speech:  The Oral Communication Center (OCC). The OCC offers the standard, one-on-one tutoring, as well as workshops and communication courses in "applied communication skills" (students get credit for taking it, but only a quarter of normal course credit). One interesting aspect of the OCC is the connection to Hamilton's writing mission. I've found that many colleges celebrate their commitment to writing, yet tuck speaking into a support role or a happy outcome of sorts. But Hamilton sees speech as integral to their writing-centered tradition because the tradition is based on clear and effective "writing and elocution." The word, "elocution" harks back to the history of rhetoric in academe, of the tie between dramatic performance and argument.Thus, speech at Hamilton seems not be writing's step-sister, but pivotal to the goals that the college says it's committed to: developing eloquent and effective critical thinkers and speakers. (Also, Hamilton is one of the few liberal arts colleges that I've found to offer a concentration in Communication).

I'll close this (rather lengthy) post with the more traditional speech center at Minnesota's Carleton College. The student-staffed "Speakeasy" is part of their Academic Support Center. Its purpose is to help students with "public speaking and comps talks." Thus, the center is partially designed to support student performance in a major assignment --  oral defense of their senior project or "comps." The Speakeasy coach holds office hours at two different locations or by appointment at a mutually convenient place. Their webpage banner is:

Come See Us for Free Coaching on Oral Communication Skills!

With no disrespect meant for the Speakeasy, their banner makes me think of communication as one of those niceties that's conspicuous only when absent or fundamentally lacking.  Hamilton's OCC, on the other hand, is a integrated into the mission of the school and, as such, has a broader, if not higher, purpose of enriching student abilities in argument and critical thinking, both written and oral. Mt. Holyoke's SAW Center is somewhere between the two as a traditional speech resource, but one that leans toward being a broader resource; it favors writing support but includes speaking as a form of argument (rhetoric).

                                               From Hamilton's OCC webpage