Angela G. Ray

Angela G. Ray is an Associate Professor in the Communication Studies Department at Northwestern University's School of Communication. She also serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the School of Communication and previously held leadership roles including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in The Graduate School (2017-2020) and chair of the Northwestern University Press Editorial Board.

Her academic journey includes:

• PhD in Speech-Communication, University of Minnesota
• MA in Drama and Theatre Studies, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (University of London)
• BA in English & Chemistry, Transylvania University

Ray specializes in rhetorical history and analysis, focusing on 19th-century U.S. popular education systems, social reform movements, and rhetorical practices in marginalized communities. Her current research examines clandestine debating networks among free Black men in antebellum Charleston.

Her scholarly work appears in journals such as Argumentation and Advocacy, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Women’s Studies in Communication. She has published extensively on topics including:

• Rhetorical history of the lyceum lecture system
• Rhetoric and archival methodology
• Political communication networks
• Gender and feminist rhetoric
• Rhetorical practices in marginalized communities

Ray has been recognized with multiple awards:

• Van Zelst Research Professor in Communication (2020-2021)
• Faculty Mentorship Award (2016)
• James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award
• Diamond Anniversary Book Award
• Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award
• Daniel Rohrer Memorial Outstanding Research Award