Beth Britt, associate professor of English, is a rhetorical theorist and critic whose research focuses on legal rhetoric. She is currently working on two projects: a study of 19th century legal education as rhetorical education and a study of intervention programs for domestic abusers.

Prof. Britt teaches undergraduate courses in writing and rhetoric, including “Introduction to Rhetoric,” “Writing for Prelaw,” “Rhetoric of Law,” and “Style & Editing.” At the graduate level, she has recently taught courses in rhetorical theory, rhetorical education, and law & the humanities.

Selected Publications

• Reimagining Advocacy: Rhetorical Education in the Legal Clinic. RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018.
• “Listening Rhetorically to Defending Our Lives: Identification and Advocacy in Intimate Partner Abuse.” Law, Culture and the Humanities 10:1 (2014): 155-178.
• “Dangerous Deliberation: Subjective Probability and Rhetorical Democracy in the Jury Room.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39:2 (2009): 103-123.
• “Rhetoric and Ethnography.” The International Encyclopedia of Communication. Vol. IX. Ed. Wolfgang Donsbach. Oxford, UK, and Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008.
• “The Rhetorical Work of Institutions.” Critical Power Tools: Cultural Studies and Technical Communication. Ed. J. Blake Scott, Bernadette Longo, and Katherine V. Wills. Albany: SUNY P, 2006. 133-150.
• Conceiving Normalcy: Rhetoric, Law, and the Double Binds of Infertility. Inaugural volume of the Series in Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P. August 2001.

Awards and Honors

• Faculty Fellow, Northeastern University Humanities Center, 2018-19.
• Excellence in Teaching Award. Northeastern University, 2007.
• Predoctoral Grant. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, 1995-96.

Professional Associations

• Rhetoric Society of America
• Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition
• National Communication Association
• Association of Law, Culture and the Humanities
• National Council of Teachers of English
• Conference on College Composition and Communication