Dr. John Lyne Discusses University of Pittsburgh Communication Major

John Lyne

Professor of Communication/Director of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Bioethics, Resident Fellow, Center for the Philosophy of Science, Director of Graduate Studies for Communication Department

John Lyne studies philosophical and theoretical issues in rhetoric and communication, rhetoric of science, and argumentation. He has published work on evolutionary biology and “gene talk,” the intersections of science and common sense, and philosophically oriented work influenced by C.S. Peirce, Kenneth Burke, and Wittgenstein. He also teaches a graduate seminar on the rhetoric and philosophy of medicine in the M.A. program in Bioethics. He has team taught seminars with faculty from History and Philosophy of Science, Biology, Economics, and Political Science. His work appears in journals and edited volumes both inside and outside the field of communication, and he has been editor-in-chief of a book series on the rhetoric of inquiry with the University of Wisconsin Press. He has directed several national award-winning dissertations. Doctoral advisees have taken faculty positions at the University of Colorado, Marquette University, University of Alabama at Huntsville, Temple University, Tulane University, the Claremont Graduate University, and other universities. Professor Lyne is the recipient of the 2010 Provost's Award for Excellence in Mentoring, for his success at mentoring doctoral students, and the 2014 Donald Ecroyd Research and Scholarship Award of the Pennsylvania Communication Association. He is a past president of the Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology and a past chair of Communication departments at the University of Iowa and the University of Pittsburgh.