When asked about the challenges his job presents, Speech Professor James Kuypers responded that the only drawback to his job is that it is a little lonely -- after all, he essentially is the Office of Speech, Dartmouth's smallest department.
"I don't have colleagues that engage in the same type of work I engage in," Kuypers said. "When I'm sharing my work or need to toss ideas around, I can't easily do that."
A year ago, the Office of Speech was on the verge of extinction when its two faculty members left. Speech classes were canceled until the College decided how to reorganize the department.
Their solution was Kuypers, who has a two year position as a visiting assistant professor of English. He joined the faculty in July 1995. As the Director of Speech, he teaches the classes offered by the Office and runs the two endowed speech contests held at the College. But the present arrangement is not necessarily permanent.
"Technically, the Office of Speech no longer exists," Kuypers said. "We're in a state of limbo until the administration decides what to do."
At present, the Office of Speech has been incorporated as an autonomous unit into the English Department, where Kuypers said he has received full support from English Chair William Cook. The courses offered by the Office include three previously taught courses and, beginning Fall term 1996, two that Kuypers has added himself. This term he is teaching two Speech classes.
"Both of them filled up immediately," Kuypers said. An extra 41 students signed up for the Persuasive Speaking course that has a 21 student limit, he added. "There's a demand for basic courses and for new ones."
"The courses seem to be highly enrolled and going well, and we have no plans to close" the Office of Speech, said Mary Jean Green, an assistant dean of humanities.
"We are planning to offer these courses for the foreseeable future," she said.
Kuypers said he wants to add some new dimensions to the courses he is teaching.
"One of the things I'm trying to do is move away from only teaching practice or technique and bring back the theory," he said.
Kuypers said he wanted to present the material in such a way that the students would understand not only the techniques, but also the theories that "undergird" them. He noted that speaking skills are something that are useful in the world beyond academe.
"Speech is one of the few disciplines where you have a blending of theory and practice," he said. "It embraces the whole student."
Speech courses fill the distributive requirement for the Arts, Kuypers said. There is no major or minor in Speech at Dartmouth, a trend he described as an "Ivy League phenomenon." Until 1979, Dartmouth had a Speech Department, but in June of that year it was downsized to the Office of Speech. It retained that status until last year.
"The Administration does not know quite what to do," Kuypers said of future plans. "But [they] are committed to the courses."
He added that student input is very important at this point.
Kuypers received his Ph.D. at Louisiana State University, where he also taught classes. LSU has the oldest Speech Communication Department in the South, he said.
He has also worked at Florida State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters degrees, the University of Iowa and Florida Atlantic University.
