Richard Eugene Vatz is an American academic, lecturer and writer who is a professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Towson University. Vatz is a Faculty Fellow at the Eastern Communication Association and has been honored by the National Communication Association. Vatz has been member of the Towson Board of Trustees for several years and an associate psychology editor for USA Today magazine since 1987. He has been a member of the National Communication Association since 1969. Vatz wrote The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model,, and he is co-editor of Thomas Szasz: The Man and His Ideas. He has also published articles, reviews and lectures on the preeminence of rhetorical study, political rhetoric, rhetoric and psychiatry and media criticism. Vatz has spoken at Hillsdale College and the University of Richmond. He has taught a course called "Persuasion". He is married to Joanne Pychock Vatz; the couple have two children and one grandchild.
Awards and honors
President's Award for Distinguished Service, 2004, Towson University
Maryland "Governor’s Citation" for Achievements in Higher Education and Service to Towson University, 2004
Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich's addresses to Vatz's "Persuasion" class at Towson twice a year 1993–present
Moderated debates for U.S. House of Representatives election: 2004; Dutch Ruppersberger in 2006 for his attempt to win a Congressional seat and Ruppersberger vs. Helen Bentley for their House race, September 24, 2002. Vatz moderated a debate between state senate candidates Jim Brochin and Martha Klima, 2002
Featured speaker honoring Dr. Thomas Szasz on his 80th birthday; symposium was titled "Liberty and/or Psychiatry: 40 Years After 'The Myth of Mental Illness,'" April 15, 2000
Highlight Article on Vatz's public commentary: Vatz's Election Commentary, Towson Times, October 23, 2002
Subject of article in The Washington Post, May 6, 2004 on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich's lectureships to his Persuasion class, 1993-2004
He has been a member of his Towson University University Senate for a record 38 years.
Some Research Highlights
Panel presented on Vatz's work at NCA convention, "Richard E. Vatz on Rhetoric and Psychiatry," 1999
Named as a major rhetorical theorist in an essay on "The Rhetorical Situation" in Twentieth-Century Roots of Rhetorical Studies and in essay on "Rhetorical Theory as Message Reception" in Spring, 2003 Communication Studies
Appointed Lifetime Member of Board of Trustees,
Chosen by NCA Vice President to participate in a debate on President Bush's policies on Iraq for NCA national convention, 2002
Ad Watch Critic, WBAL Radio, September–November 2002: Printed Analysis of Campaign Ads in 2002 Campaigns
Short bio feature, "No Rhetoric Here," Baltimore Jewish Times, January 9, 2004 p. 8
Works
During the 1970s, Vatz published the article, "The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation," in the journal Philosophy and Rhetoric. In it, he, critiqued Lloyd Bitzer's 1968 article "The Rhetorical Situation" in the same journal and this has served as the basis for his world view on persuasion; namely, that rhetorical study is conceived most advantageously for the field through a model of competition for agenda and spin. In January 2009, Vatz published a follow-up piece to the "Myth" article in the NCA's January, 2009, Review of Communication. The article was titled "The Mythical Status of Situational Rhetoric: Implications for Rhetorical Critics’ Relevance in the Public Arena." Vatz argued there that the "Myth" perspective was the appropriate rhetorical approach to the study of persuasion. In contrast, the perspective offered in "The Rhetorical Situation" was anathema to the academic status of rhetorical study, as it implied that situations caused the production of rhetoric rather than high-ethos rhetoricians' choices. This caused what audiences perceived as dominant situations and their meaning. In 2012, Vatz published The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion: the Agenda-Spin Model and a new co-edited book Thomas Szasz: The Man and His Ideas. He has also published articles on political rhetoric and media criticism in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Los Angeles Times. Vatz has presented convention papers and panels at the National Communication Association and Eastern Communication Association, including regular analyses of political rhetoric in seminars at the NCA with progressive colleagues.
Media appearances
Vatz has appeared on Crossfire, Larry King Live, The Phil Donahue Show, and William F. Buckley's Firing Line He most frequently appears as a guest on WBAL Radio in Baltimore and has also appeared frequently on WBFF-TV, WMAR-TV, primarily on their talk show "Square Off" hosted by Richard Sher, Maryland Public Television, WJZ-TV, and WBAL-TV. Vatz is a blogger for Red Maryland and blogs several pieces a year on national conservative perspectives on rhetorical theory, media criticism and contemporary political issues.
