BOLIVAR, MO – Southwest Baptist University announces that Dr. Josh Compton, chair and assistant professor of communication arts, recently presented an original essay, Forensic Metaphors: Comparisons Within and About Intercollegiate Forensics, at the National Communication Association’s annual convention in Chicago, Ill..

Compton’s manuscript was part of a panel that he created titled, Forensics is Like…: Effects of Forensic Metaphors on How We View and Do Forensics, accepted for presentation by the Pi Kappa Delta Division of the National Communication Association. Pi Kappa Delta recognized the panel as Top Panel in the division.

Other scholars appearing on the panel included Scott and Gina Jensen of Webster University, Lindsay Wakefield of University of Oklahoma, Elizabeth Craig of University of Oklahoma, and Brian Kaylor of University of Missouri. (Kaylor is an alum of Southwest Baptist University.) Phillip Voight of Gustavus Adolphus College served as the respondent, and Andy Luster of McNeese State University was the chair.

“It’s often a challenge to describe forensics, or speech and debate, to others,” Compton said. “In this paper, I surveyed how metaphors play a role in how we define forensic activities, looking at sports, family, and business metaphors, among others.”

“I would also add that these metaphors help us understand how we—as forensic educators and competitors—define forensics for ourselves,” Compton said.

Compton has been on faculty at SBU since 1998.