P. Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of Speaking Intensive Program, recently co-authored with three colleagues at different institutions the piece “Strategies for Assessment in Communication Centers: Perspectives from Across the Field,” which was published in the new Communication Center Journal: http://commcenters.org/content/05-journal/communication-center-journal-vol-1.pdf
Rao Presents at Assessment Institute
P. Anand Rao, associate professor of Communication and director of the Speaking Intensive Program and the Speaking Center, presented at the Assessment Institute conference in Indianapolis from Oct. 19-21 on using technology to assess oral communication skills. He discussed how UMW designed and conducted an assessment of oral communication skills over the last decade and provided guidance on best practices for assessment, including tips for using online tools for speech assessment.
Separation Anxiety (The Health Journals.Com) (Anand Rao)
Rao Presents at Summit
P. Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the Speaking Intensive Program and the Speaking Center, presented as an invited speaker at the Future of Health Technology Institute’s Summit on May 5, 2014. The meeting was held at MIT’s Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The Future of Health Technology Institute is an MIT think tank that supports research on health care developments. Rao’s talk was titled “Persuasive Health Communications” and was on a program that included researchers and speakers from MIT’s Media Lab, the Whitehead Institute, and Harvard Medical School.
Rao Presents at National Association of Communication Centers Conference
Anand Rao, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Speaking Intensive Program and the Speaking Center, gave two presentations at the National Association of Communication Centers conference at Arizona State University-West on Friday, April 11, 2014. The first was on “Assessment Best Practices,” and the second was on “Negotiating Identity and Place at Institutions without Communication Majors.”
Local High Schools Participate in UMW Workshop
The Speaking Center and the Office of Admissions co-sponsored the Public Speaking and Advocacy Workshop Feb. 1, 2014. The workshop included instruction on effective speaking, delivery skills, handling communication apprehension, and advocacy, given by Anand Rao and Tim O’Donnell. Students gave a three to five minute speech that they prepared in advance, and also participated in a town hall debate. Speaking center consultants observed those speeches and debates and provided feedback to the students. A total of 20 students participated, including students from Colonial Forge High School, Mountain View High School, Stafford High School, Spotsylvania High School, Riverbend High School, and the Fredericksburg home school speech and debate club. You can find more information about the workshop at: http://academics.umw.edu/speaking/speaking-intensive-program/public-speaking-advocacy-workshop-feb-1-2014/
UMW’s Speaking Center Achieves National Certification
![UMW Speaking Center staff (left to right): Mariah Young, Russell Michelson (lead consultant), Cate Stackhouse, Michael Friedmann, Abbie Yirrah (lead consultant), Alex Obolensky, Danielle DeVille, Jerome Mueller, Catie LeBouton, Ray Celeste Tanner, Kailey Krystyniak, Madison Thorpe, Erin Raderstorf, Anand Rao (Speaking Center Director), Tom Pacheco (lead consultant)](http://www.umw.edu/news/files/2014/01/speaking-center-staff-300x170.jpg)
What is that Mary Washemon Thing We’ve all been Hearing about? (Fredericksburg.Com)
Anand Rao Presents at Workshop in China
Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the speaking intensive program, will be a presenter next week in Shanghai, China, at a debate training workshop for high school English teachers.
The “Training Workshop on the Harvard Debate-National Forensic League Curriculum” will be held from Wednesday, May 23 through Monday, May 28. Rao will be one of four presenters at the workshop, along with Stefan Bauschard (Harvard Debate), Adam Jacobi (National Forensic League), and Ryan Galloway (Samford University). The workshop will be attended by 100 English teachers from 50 of the top magnet high schools across China.
The workshop is sponsored by two government agencies, “The Society of Cultivating Innovators” and “Innovation Method Society,” which are supervised by the Ministries of Education and Technology. The agencies are considered the highest ranking non-profits in China organized by the central government. Harvard Debate and the National Forensic League, the leading organizations for high school debate in the United States, are working with the Chinese agencies to develop a high school debate program for the top students across the country. The workshop is the first presentation of a debate curriculum that is in development by Harvard Debate and the National Forensic League for use in Chinese high schools this coming fall.
Anand Rao to Direct Workshop at Harvard
Anand Rao, associate professor of communication and director of the speaking intensive program, will direct a summer workshop on public speaking and argumentation in Boston, Mass. The workshop for high school students is sponsored by Harvard Debate Council, the officially-recognized debate program at Harvard. The workshop will be held on the Harvard campus from July 15 through 27, and students will work on presentation skills for both live and online audiences. More information about the workshop can be found on the Harvard Debate Council website: https://www.hdcworkshops.org/camps/session/9.