Rate My Professor Scott Andrews

Scott Andrews, PhD, serves as Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Colorado Mesa University, where he joined the Department of Theatre Arts in 2017. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Communication Arts and Sciences from The Pennsylvania State University in 2015, with a dissertation titled 'Unum et Pluribus: Walt Whitman's Philosophy of Democracy.' He also holds an M.A.M.C. in Mass Communications from the University of Florida in 2004, focusing on rhetorical exegesis in his thesis 'Brown and The Times,' and dual undergraduate degrees—a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.F.A. in Creative Writing, both magna cum laude—from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in 1998. Prior to his current position, Andrews was a Lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Penn State from 2007 to 2017 and a certified high school mathematics teacher in New Orleans from 2004 to 2007. At Colorado Mesa University, he teaches a range of courses including Essential Speech, Speechmaking, Speechwriting, Rhetorical Theory, Persuasion, Argumentation, Interpersonal Communication, Communication & Conflict, Leadership & Communication, Keynote Speaking, and Computer Mediated Communication.

Andrews' scholarly work centers on the interdisciplinary intersections of rhetoric and philosophy, with emphases on rhetoric in the public sphere, democracy, and its constitutive, creative, and ontological dimensions. His refereed publications include a book review of 'A Guide to Good Reasoning: Cultivating Intellectual Virtues' in the Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal (2023), the chapter 'From Rational to Relevant: What Counts as “Public” Knowledge?' in Global Academe (2012), and 'Objectivity in Rhetorical Criticism: Husserl’s Late Phenomenology' in Speaker & Gavel (2011). He authored the open educational resource textbook Find Your Voice! Speaking in a Democracy, published through LibreTexts. Andrews has delivered numerous refereed conference presentations at venues such as the Rhetoric Society of America (2024), National Communication Association, and Eastern Communication Association, earning Top Paper awards for works on Whitman and public knowledge in 2022 and 2011. His accolades include the 2025 Colorado Mesa University Distinguished Teaching Faculty Award, the CDHE Open Educational Resources Award (2020), Daniels Ethics Fund Fellowship (2019–2021), Faculty Professional Development Fund Awards (2019, 2021, 2022), and the Institute for Arts & Humanities Dissertation Fellowship from Penn State (2010). Andrews contributes to university service as co-chair of Teacher to Teacher, member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching and Learning, while advising Communication Studies minors and producing events like 'An Evening with Dana Liesegang' (2019).