Dr. Richard Cherwitz (Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1978) is the Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor Emeritus in the Moody College of Communication. For 41 years he was a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies (Rhetoric) and in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. He is the founder and former director of the Intellectual Entrepreneurship Consortium (IE) --a cutting-edge and nationally acclaimed cross-disciplinary initiative designed to leverage knowledge for social good by educating "citizen-scholars." Publications include two scholarly books and over one hundred articles, book chapters, reviews, and papers. Dr. Cherwitz has penned numerous essays appearing in such journals as Philosophy and Rhetoric, Argumentation, The Quarterly Journal of Speech. In addition, he has published over 150 op-eds in newspapers and educational venues across the nation, writing about issues pertaining to politics, academic engagement and public scholarship--all utilizing and building upon his scholarly work in rhetoric. Dr. Cherwitz received four of the National Communication Association's top awards given to scholars in rhetoric: the Karl R. Wallace Memorial Award, the Donald H. Ecroyd Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Douglas Ehninger Distinguished Rhetorical Scholar Award and the Wallace A. Bacon Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award. He also received the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) Osborn Teacher-Scholar Award. His research has been supported by grants from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Houston Endowment, the Summerlee Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Cherwitz was the recipient of the University of Texas AMOCO Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award, the Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award, the College of Communication Thomas R. McCartin Teaching Excellence Award, the Texas Alumni Association’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Professors, and the College of Communication Research Award. Dr. Cherwitz also received the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Innovation Award, the National Speakers Association Outstanding Professor Award, the Conference of Graduate Schools Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education Award, the Texas Blazers Faculty Excellence Award, the Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service & Academic Outreach (New England Resource Center for Higher Education), the Examples of Excelencia Award (Excelencia in Education) and Honorable Mention in Fast Company Magazine’s “Fast 50 Global Readers’ Challenge” (for accomplishments as an “Innovator”). Cherwitz (IE) was recognized by the Texas House of Representatives for his innovative leadership in education and received the DiversityFIRST[tm] Leadership Award from the Texas Diversity Council. Dr. Cherwitz has directed over thirty doctoral dissertations; his students have taken faculty positions at such institutions as The Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburgh, The University of Texas at Austin, Temple, North Carolina State University, the University of California-Berkeley, Tulane University, George Washington University, LSU, Macalester and others.