Ph.D. Communication Studies, May 2015, Louisiana State University

  Focus in Rhetoric, Secondary Focus in Performance Studies

  Advisor: Dr. Nathan Crick

  Dissertation Committee: Nathan Crick, Bridgette Davis, Andrew King, Gregory Schufreider

 

M.A. Communication Studies, The University of Montana, 2011

  Focus in Rhetoric and Public Discourse, Secondary Focus in Organizational Communication

  Advisor: Dr. Sara Hayden

  Thesis Title: Assessing the balance: Burkean frames and Lil’ Bush

 

B.A. Political Science, Transylvania University, 2008

  Advisor: Dr. Don Dugi

   Minor in Communication

 

 

Dr. Liz Sills' work may be found in Comedy Studies, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication and in the 2013 Eisner Award-winning volume Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation. She also enjoys teaching standup comedy skills to her students and hosting workshops that teach community members how to understand and make use of the funniness of their everyday lives.

 

Dr. Sills is president of the Lighthearted Philosophers’ Society, a group of scholars dedicated to studying philosophies of humor in funny ways. She is also serving a two-year term as president of the Speech Communication Association of South Dakota. On campus, she is the advisor for the communication studies honorary, Lambda Pi Eta, and a co-advisor of Northern's Feminist Club.

 

GLC 405 Comedy Humor and Culture

IDL 190 Seminar – Black Social Justice Movements

IDL 190 Seminar – Seeing Persuasion

CMST 101 Fundamentals of Speech

CMST 101 HNRS Fundamentals of Speech Honors

CMST 150 Introduction to Public Relations

CMST 215 Public Speaking

CMST 222 Argumentation & Debate

CMST 335/INDG 335 Native Identity & Resiliency

CMST 390 Seminar – Comedy & Humor

CMST 405 Theories of Communication

CMST 416 Rhetorical Criticism

CMST 434 Small Group Communication

 

Her interests lie in rhetorics, philosophies, and cultural consequences surrounding comedy, humor, and any other catalysts of mirth that constitute The Funny.