Martin Presents at Chávez Symposium

Steve Martin, associate professor of communication at Ripon College, was a featured presenter at a recent symposium hosted by the Center for Democratic Deliberation and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn State University in February.

Martin presented “Remembering (and Forgetting) César Chávez: The Texas Board of Education’s Efforts to Erase Chávez from U.S. History.”

The symposium was devoted to the life and work of César Chávez and included an exhibition of photographs and autobiographical reflections produced by Humanities Texas. It also featured a panel discussion that included Martin and scholars from Northeastern University, University of Nevada – Las Vegas and Penn State.

Martin teaches American public address, rhetorical criticism, and the rhetoric of social movements with an emphasis on labor and working-class movements. He has published research on both the history of organized labor and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s recent efforts to restrict the power of public unions in Wisconsin.