Dr. William Lawson

Dr. William Lawson

Dr. Lawson is a rhetorical critic interested in displays of visual agency and advocacy. His first book No Small Thing: The 1963 Mississippi Freedom Vote is a rhetorical history of the grassroots-voting phenomenon, and is in press with the University Press of Mississippi. He also has a chapter, “The Mustard Man and the Students’ Stand: Analyzing Images from the 1963 Jackson, Mississippi Sit-In,” in Like Wildfire: The Rhetoric of the Civil Rights Sit-Ins in press with the University of South Carolina Press. Dr. Lawson’s work has appeared in Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Southern Journal of Communication, Advances in the History of Rhetoric, and Communication and Law Review. He continues to consistently present original research at the National Communication Association Annual Convention. He is a producer on the award-winning documentary Beating Justice: The Martin Lee Anderson Story.

Dr. Lawson has designed and taught his faculty-led study abroad program “The British Documentary Experience” for the Florida State University, University of Maryland (College Park), and here at Cal State East Bay. Utilizing London as a host city, the program is a unique opportunity for students to study and produce documentaries in Great Britain for six weeks. While back on main campus, Dr. Lawson enjoys teaching both theoretical classes and practical courses ranging from COMM6550 Critical Cultural Studies to COMM3100 Introduction to Professional Digital Video.