Lester C. Olson

Lester C. Olson is a Professor of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh, where he specializes in visual rhetoric, public address, and human rights rhetoric. His books include Emblems of American Community in the Revolutionary Era (1991), Benjamin Franklin’s Vision of American Community (2004), and, with co-editors Cara A. Finnegan and Diane S. Hope, Visual Rhetoric (2007). His essays concerning Audre Lorde’s public advocacy can be found in the Quarterly Journal of Speech (1997, 1998), Philosophy & Rhetoric (2000), American Voices (2005), Queering Public Address (2007), and The Responsibilities of Rhetoric (2010). Currently, in 2011, he is a board member for the Rhetoric Society of America. He serves as an associate editor for the Quarterly Journal of Speech and Rhetoric & Public Affairs. During October 2010, he directed a landmark public address conference on “Human Rights Rhetoric” at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently with Arabella Lyon he is co-editing a special issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly concerning Human Rights Rhetoric. At present, he is writing a book concerning Audre Lorde's public advocacy.