Rate My Professor David Hoffman

David Hoffman is Professor and Faculty Director of the Master of Public Administration and Online MPA programs in the Department of Public Affairs at Baruch College's Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, City University of New York. He received his PhD from the University of Iowa in 2000, where his dissertation examined classical Greek rhetoric. Hoffman's research operates at the intersection of rhetoric, history, and politics. He is a scholar of deliberative democracy and has published on classical rhetorical theory as well as rhetorical analyses of political figures from Thomas Paine to Al Gore. More recent scholarship addresses religious rhetoric and the history of the American freethought movement. His work has appeared in journals including Rhetorica, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly. Notable publications include the article 'Concerning Eikos: Social Expectation and Verisimilitude in Early Attic Rhetoric' (Rhetorica, 2008). Hoffman's most recent book, American Freethought: The History of a Social Movement, 1794–1948 (Johns Hopkins University Press), explores the strategies that sustained the freethought movement against opposition.

In his teaching at Baruch College, Hoffman emphasizes deliberation as central to democratic decision-making, instructing courses such as Communication in Public Settings and Feit seminars on Himalayan cultures, the latter developed through a fellowship at the Rubin Museum of Art. His expertise extends to communications and media, rhetorical analysis of NYC mayoral addresses, decision-making processes in the World Trade Center site redevelopment, separation of church and state issues, and FCC media ownership regulations. Hoffman serves as Chair of Baruch College's Learning Assessment Committee and has been active in the faculty senate. He collaborates with the Kettering Foundation's New Centers program to develop the New York Civic Forum, hosting deliberative discussions on contemporary issues for the Baruch community. Additionally, he works with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum to create deliberative discussion guides on immigration. Recognized for ten years of service as Associate Professor in 2013, Hoffman maintains a long-standing commitment to Baruch College.