Office: CMU327
Phone: (425) 836-2460
E-Mail: johnhammerback@comcast.net

John Hammerback, Ph. D. Indiana University, is affiliate faculty member in communication at UW and professor emeritus in the Department of Communication, CSU East Bay (formerly CSU Hayward). At UW during spring quarter he teaches rhetorical studies; he serves year-round on doctoral dissertation committees.

His scholarly work, some co-authored, produced the first book and set of articles on the rhetoric and public address of Mexican Americans and has recently focused on communication that changes the character or identity of audiences. Among his contributions are four books—on Chicano rhetoric (Greenwood Press, 1984), the rhetorical career of Cesar Chavez (Texas A & M Press, 1998), a collection, with critical commentary, of Cesar Chavez’s discourse (Texas A & M Press, 2002), and a co-edited book of essays honoring his Indiana University graduate-school professors (Rodopi, 1987); forty articles and essays in books, journals including Quarterly Journal of Speech and Communication Monographs, and a CDROM; more than fifty papers at academic conventions; and membership on thirteen editorial boards of scholarly journals, currently the Howard Journal of Communications and the Southern Journal of Communication. He has lectured to varied audiences, on television and in person, on Cesar Chavez, on Chicano rhetoric, and on discourse that alters how audience members define themselves. His scholarly work earned a national award for excellence and many favorable book reviews (along with some not so favorable!), and his teaching and service brought several awards, including CSUEB’s annual award as outstanding lecturer on its faculty. CSUEB faculty selected him as the University’s “Outstanding Professor” in 2002; his address upon accepting the honor, “Embodying our Message, Teaching Our Students,” appears in Vital Speeches of the Day.

Hammerback’s administrative experience includes chair of the Department of Speech and Drama, associate dean of Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences, assistant vice president for Research and Faculty Affairs, and interim chair of the Mass Communication Department and the newly formed Department of Communication, all at Cal State East Bay, and head of the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University. He is a past president of the Western States Communication Association and former chair of the Public Address Interest Group of the National Communication Association.

For more information and a complete list of Hammerback's publications, download his complete vita.