UNH Today

Lawrence Prelli, professor of communication, has been selected by the College of Liberal Arts as the 2020 recipient of the Lindberg Award, given annually to the outstanding teacher-scholar in the College.

Appointed to the faculty in 1985, Prelli’s research focuses on rhetoric in the areas of ecology and the environment, science and expertise, and symbolic actions. He pioneered a subfield of the communication discipline – the rhetorical analysis of scientific discourse – with his monograph, “A Rhetoric of Science: Inventing Scientific Discourse” (University of South Carolina Press, 1989), a text considered central in the field today. Through subsequent book chapters, journal articles and papers, he has become a leading contributor to the more specific and growing subfield of rhetorical studies of science, technology and ecology.

Prelli is one of the earliest scholars to promote the examination of visual rhetoric. His edited collection, “Rhetorics of Display” (University of South Carolina Press, 2006), earned him a best monograph award from the National Communication Association for his penned chapter.

He is currently working on a new book, tentatively titled “Three Civil War Memorials.”

“Professor Prelli’s scholarly record of achievement is impressive,” says Michele Dillon, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “His current book project is timely as the U.S. grapples with the communicative power of monuments.”

Dillon also praises Prelli’s teaching prowess, saying Prelli is “impactful at all levels of the communication undergraduate curriculum. His courses are rigorous, his pedagogy innovative, his classroom engaging and his demeanor caring.”

Prelli’s teaching has been recognized with a 2010 UNH Teaching Excellence Award and a 2004 Teaching Excellence Award from the Eastern Communication Association.

Prelli will deliver the Lindberg Lecture, “Civil War Memorials, Counter-Memorials and Reinventing Public Memories,” on Thursday, March 25, 2021, from 1:00-2:00 PM (Zoom link).

The annual Gary Lindberg Award was established by the College of Liberal Arts in 1986 in memory of Professor Gary Lindberg of the Department of English. Lindberg was an exceptional scholar and outstanding teacher whose dedication and service to the University of New Hampshire as well as the wider community exemplified the highest academic standards and ideals.