Dave Tell CV
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Department of Communication Studies
The University of Kansas
Bailey Hall
1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 117
Lawrence, KS 66045-7574
785-864-0450
Email: davetell@ku.edu
Dave Tell's Website
Current and Past Positions
April 2020 – present
Co-Director, Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities
August 2018-present
Professor, Communication Studies, The University of Kansas
August 2012 – August 2018
Associate Professor, Communication Studies, The University of Kansas
August 2014 - Present, Affiliate Faculty. Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
August 2007 - July 2012, Assistant Professor, Communication Studies, The University of Kansas Fall 2006 - Spring
2007 - Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Maryland
Fall 2000 - Summer 2006, Graduate Teaching Assistant, The Pennsylvania State University
Education
Ph.D. in Communication Arts and Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University (August 2006) Dissertation advisor: Dr. Rosa Eberly
Dissertation: “The Politics of Public Confession: Expressivism and American Democracy”
M.A. in Speech Communication (August 2002) The Pennsylvania State University
Thesis advisor: Dr. Stephen H. Browne
B.A. in Religious Studies, Cum Laude (May 1998) Minor in Communication Studies
Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California
Grants, Fellowships, Residencies (selected)
Godbeer, Richard (PI), Sylvia Fernandez (Lead Co-PI), and Dave Tell (Lead Co-PI). “Stories for All.” The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. $1.47M. 2021-2024. I served as Lead Co-PI through January 2022.
Rosenblum, Brian (PI) and Dave Tell (Co-PI). “The Public Digital Humanities: An Institute for Academic/Community Collaborations.” Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities. National Endowment for the Humanities. $191,879. 2021-2022.
Tell, Dave, PI. “Emmett Till Memory Project.” Travel Grant. Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities. The University of Kansas, $300. Awarded April 26, 2019.
Tell, Dave, PI. “Emmett Till Memory Project.” General Research Fund. The University of Kansas, $16,227.04. July 1, 2019. Funds Curate Scape production of ETMP.
Tell, Dave, PI. Time-Sensitive Fund. Research Excellence Initiative. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. $1,350. December 2019.
Tell, Dave, PI. Course Release. Research Excellence Initiative. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. $5,500. Spring 2019.
Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities. $54,000. July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017. FA-232416.
Tell CV | February 2019
Weems, Patrick, PI. Historic Preservation Fund. National Park Service. $500,000. January 2017. NOTE: I was a consultant, ghost writer on the application, and collaborator in the grant.
Weems, Patrick, PI. Museum Grants African American History and Culture. Institute of Library and Museum Services.$72,670. NOTE: I ghost wrote the majority of the application narrative.
Scholars on Site. The Hall Center for the Humanities. The University of Kansas. Awarded December 2014. $10,000.
Collaborative Humanities Design Project. Teagle Foundation. Center for Teaching Excellence. 2014- 2017. $750/year. With Beth Innocenti.
Office of International Programs, The University of Kansas, Spring 2013 International Seminar: “Architectures of the World.” $850.
Sabbatical. The University of Kansas.
Visiting Research Fellow. The Hall Center for the Humanities, 2011-2012. Provides teaching release, office space, and dedicated time for research in the Fall of 2011.
Ghostwritten Grant Writing (funded)
Emmett Till Memorial Commission, PI. Museum Grants African American History and Culture. Institute of Library and Museum Services. September 2019 to September 2022. $240,000. NOTE: I ghost wrote the application narrative and am a named consultant in the grant.
Weems, Patrick, PI. Historic Preservation Fund. National Park Service. $500,000. January 2017. NOTE: I was a consultant, ghost writer, and collaborator in the grant.
Weems, Patrick, PI. Museum Grants African American History and Culture. Institute of Library and Museum Services. $72,670. NOTE: I ghost wrote the majority of the application narrative.
Honors, Awards (selected)
Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award. 2021. C0-recipient. For Remembering Emmett Till.
McLemore Prize. Mississippi Historical Society. March 5, 2020 for Remembering Emmett Till.
Vice Chancellor for Research Book Award, Hall Center for the Humanities, The University of Kansas. For Remembering Emmett Till. February 2, 2018.
Community Engaged Scholarship Award. For the “Emmett Till Memory Project.” College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas. April 18, 2017.
Chancellor’s 2017 University Scholarly Achievement Award. For the Emmett Till Memory Project. April 10, 2017.
“Heritage Award for Education.” Mississippi Heritage Trust. For The Emmett Till Memory Project. May 19, 2016.
Sharon and Jeffrey Vitter Award for Engaged Scholarship, for The Emmett Till Memory Project. May 2, 2016.
Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award, 2013. National Communication Association. For Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics in Twentieth-Century America (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012).
Golden Anniversary Monograph Award, 2013. National Communication Association. For “The Meanings of Kansas: Rhetoric, Regions, and Counter Regions,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 42, no. 3 (2012): 214-232.
Karl R. Wallace Memorial Award. National Communication Association, 2012. Provides a “grant-in-aid” to support the writing of Rhetoric, Regionalism, and Cultural Politics.
Ned N. Fleming Trust Award, 2012. This is a university wide Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. $5000.
Donn W. Parson Graduate Faculty Mentorship Award, Communication Studies at the University of Kansas, 2011-2012.
“Gerald R. Miller Doctoral Dissertation Award.” The National Communication Association, 2007.
Dissertation Award. The Rhetoric Society of America, 2007. Awarded for the “best dissertation in the field of rhetorical studies completed by a student member of the society.”
Kenneth Burke Prize in Rhetoric. Awarded by the Departments of English and Communication Arts & Sciences at Penn State for “Beyond Mnemotechnics: Confession and Memory in Augustine,” 2005.
Carroll C. Arnold Award for Academic Excellence. Awarded by the Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, 2004.
Books
Mountford, Roxanne, Dave Tell, and David Blakesley, eds. Reinventing Rhetoric Scholarship: Fifty Years of the Rhetoric Society of America. (Anderson SC: Parlor Press, 2020).
Tell, Dave. Remembering Emmett Till (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, May 2019).
Tell, Dave. Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics in Twentieth-Century America (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012).
Awards:
2021 Byron Caldwell Smith Book Award. Co-recipient.
2020 McLemore Prize, Mississippi Historical Society.
Listed:
2019 “Book of the Year” by The Economist.
Reviewed:
Jason Morgan Ward, Journal of African American History 106, no. 3 (2021): 544-546.
Ersula J. Ore, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 51, no. 4 (2021).
Matthew Houdek, Journal for the History of Rhetoric, 24, no. 1 (2021): 113-115.
William D. Carrigan Journal of Southern History 86, no. 4 (2020).
Brandon Erby, Rhetoric Review 39, no. 1 (2020): 119-122.
Michael Gorra, “Reckoning with Evil Histories,” New York Review of Books, November 7, 2019 (cover story).
Rex Buchanan, “KU Professor’s New Book: Remembering Emmett Till.” Kansas Public Radio, August 1, 2019.
Larry Matthews, “Can efforts to memorialize a past tragedy be both educational and exploitative?” Washington Independent Review of Books, May 20, 2019.
Julia M. Klein, “The Legacy of Emmett Till: Revisiting history as new facts emerge and memories fade.” Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2019.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2019.
Tell, Dave. Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics in Twentieth-Century America (University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012).
Awards:
Marie Hochmuth Nichols Award, 2013. National Communication Association
Digital Humanities Products
Dave Tell, Davis Houck, Pablo Correa, and the Emmett Till Memorial Commission of Tallahatchie County, Inc. Emmett Till Memory Project, version 2. Website and mobile application. Free at the App Store and Google Play. August 9, 2019. Version 1 launched on 2/4/16.
As of 9/1/21: 3,267 downloads and > 24,000 screen views.
“Emmett Till Traveling Exhibit.” Indianapolis Children’s Museum. I am a formal consultant on the project. A NEH-funded $1M, interactive Till exhibit created by the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. The exibit will travel to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the DuSable in Chicago, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Atlanta Centery of American History, and the MLK Jr. Memorial Library. Opens Sept. 2022.
“Reckoning with Remembrance: History, Injustice, and the Murder of Emmett Till.” Flag Hall, The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington D.C. Exhibit opened September 3, 2021. I served as a consultant, helped write the prose, am quoted in the exhibit, and moderated the opening program.
Maia Harris (PI) and Marco Williams. Eyes on the Prize Reclaimed. 90-minute documentary on the legacy of the iconic civil rights film. I am a paid consultant with Clayborne Carson (Stanford), Hasan Jeffries (Ohio State), Crystal Feimster (Yale), Marcia Chatelain (Georgetown), and Renee Romano (Oberlin).
Ellen Ann Fentress. The Academy Stories. Launched October 2019. I am a paid consultant and writer on the project.
Dave Tell, “Rhetorics for All.” An online catalogue that provides a list of public humanities projects in the United States by scholars of rhetoric. Rhetoric Society of America.
Dave Tell, Founding Director, “Humanities in the Wild.” 2019-2020. Monthly lecture series held at Sunflower Outdoor and Bike, 804 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence KS. The series provides a public audience for academic scholarship related to nature, environmentalism, and adventure.
Industrial Humanities Projects
Dave Tell, “Graball Landing” roadside marker. Screen-printed on .5” AR500 steel, this is a $12,000 bulletproof sign. Designed by Ralph Applebaum Associates (New York, NY), produced by Lite Brite Neon (Brooklyn, NY), and dedicated on October 18, 2019 at the site where Emmett Till’s body was pulled from the water. I wrote the prose.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Tell, Dave. “Measurement and Modernity: Height, Gender, and Le Corbusier’s Modulor,” Public Culture 31.1 (January 2019): 21-43. Lead essay.
Tell, Dave. “Can a Gas Station Remember a Murder?” Southern Cultures. Special Issue: “Things.” (Fall 2017), 54-61.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till: Reflections on Race, Geography, and Memory.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric20.2 (2017): 121-38.
Tell, Dave. “The Rise and Fall of a Mechanical Rhetoric, or, What Grain Elevators Teach us About Postmodernism.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 100.2 (2014): 163-185.
Tell, Dave. “Rhetoric and Its Masses: An Introduction.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric 17.1 (2014): 1-6.
Tell, Dave. “Reinventing Walter Lippmann: Communication and Cultural Studies.” Review of Communication13.2 (2013): 108-126.
Tell, Dave and Eric Miller. “Rhetoric, Rationality, and Judicial Activism.” Advances in the History of Rhetoric 15.2(2012): 185-203.
Tell Dave. “The Meanings of Kansas: Rhetoric, Regions, and Counter Regions.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 42.3 (2012):214-232. Winner: NCA’s 2013 Golden Anniversary Monograph Award.
Reprinted in Regional Rhetorics: Real and Imagined Spaces (New York: Routledge, 2014), 14- 32.
Featured in the Lawrence Journal World (Aug. 25, 2013) and on “Up to Date,” KUCR, Kansas City (Nov. 11, 2012).
Tell, Dave. “Rhetoric and Power: An Inquiry Into Foucault’s Critique of Confession.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 43.2(Spring 2010): 95-117. Lead Article
Tell, Dave. “Augustine and the ‘Chair of Lies’: Rhetoric in The Confessions.” Rhetorica 28.4 (2010): 384-407.
Tell, Dave. “Stanton’s ‘Solitude of Self’ as Public Confession.” Communication Studies 61.2 (April-June 2010): 172-183.
Tell, Dave. “Jimmy Swaggart’s Secular Confession.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39.2 (Spring 2009): 124-146.
Tell, Dave. “James McGreevey, The State-House Resignation Speech (12 August, 2004).” Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project 3 (2008): 83-102.
Tell, Dave. “The ‘Shocking Story’ of Emmett Till and the Politics of Public Confession.” Quarterly Journal of Speech94.2 (May 2008): 156-178.
Tell, Dave. “Augustinian Political Theory and Religious Discourse in Public Life.” Journal of Communication and Religion 30.2 (November 2007): 213-35.
Tell, Dave. “Beyond Mnemotechnics: Confession and Memory in Augustine.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 39.3 (2006): 233-53.
Hogan, J. Michael and Dave Tell. “Demagoguery and Democratic Deliberation: The Search for Rules of Discursive Engagement.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 9.3 (2006): 479-87.
Tell, Dave. “Burke’s Encounter with Ransom: Rhetoric and Epistemology in ‘Four Master Tropes.’” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 34.4 (2004): 33-54.
Tell, Dave. “The Man and the Message: Timothy Dwight and Homiletic Authority.” Journal of Communication and Religion26.1 (2003): 83-108.
Book Chapters, Smaller Peer-reviewed Publications
Burton, Kath, et al (Dave Tell), “Public Humanities and Publication: A Working Paper.” Humanities Commons. 2021.
Goldenberg, Barry and Dave Tell, “Appreciating the Messy Process of the Public Humanities.” Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications. The H-Net Book Channel. February 25, 2021.
Tell, Dave. “Memory-Making is Region-Making: Emmett Till in Tallahatchie County.” In Reconstructing the South: Critical Regionalism and Southern Rhetoric, eds. Christina L. Moss and Brandon Inabinet (University Press of Mississippi, 2021).
Tell, Dave. “Critique and Investigation.” Journal for the History of Rhetoric 23, no. 1 (2020): 1-2.
Tell, Dave. “A Brief History of a Utopian Gesture.” In The Conceit of Context, eds. Charles E. Morris and Kendall Phillips(Michigan State University Press, forthcoming).
Tell, Dave. “Innovation and Commonplaces.” Review of Communication 16.1 (2016): 101-103.
Tell, Dave. “The Exodus as Burden: Obama, Agency, and the Containment Thesis.” In The Rhetoric of Presidential Expectations: Establishing the Obama Presidency, eds. Jennifer Mercieca and Justin Vaughn (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2013).
Tell, Dave. “Burke and Jameson: Reflections on Language, Ideology, and Criticism.” In Burke in the Archives: Using the Past to Transform the Future of Burkean Studies, eds. Jessica Enoch and Dana Anderson (Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 2013).
Tell, David. “Rousseau, Rhetoric, and the Promise of Contractual Politics.” In The Responsibilities of Rhetoric, eds. Michelle Smith and Barbara Warnick (Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2010), 25- 36.
Public Writing
Tell, Dave. “Commentary: Emmett Till and the Search for Justice.” The Free Lance-Star. Fredericksburg, VA. February 12, 2022.
Bercaw, Nancy, Dave Tell, and Tsione Wolde-Michael. “Excluding Black Americans from our History has proved Deadly,” Washington Post. October 20, 2021.
Tell, Dave. “Storytelling and Social Justice.” The Admissions Project. February, 24, 2021.
Tell, Dave. “White Statues, Black Live: Violence Connected to the Whiteness of Public Space.” Mississippi Free Press. June 3, 2020.
Tell, Dave. “Put the Vandalized Emmett Till Signs in Museums.” New York Times. November 14, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “The Importance of Academy Stories.” The Academy Stories. October 30, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Protecting the Memory of Emmett Till from the Scourge of Vandals,” Chicago Tribune, July 26, 2019. Reprinted in in the Tallahatchie County (MS) Sun Sentinel. Dave Tell, “About Vandalism, Race, and Memory.” August 8, 2019, page 5.
Tell, Dave, “Misery and Memory in Glendora, Mississippi: How Poverty is Reshaping the Story of Till’s Murder,” The Conversation, May 9, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi.” Places, April 30, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “Emmett Till never feared his killers? No, he died in agony.” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, August 27, 2018.
Tell, Dave. “Till Marker was just 35 days unshot.” Tallahatchie County (MS) Sun Sentinel. August 9, 2018, 5.
Reprinted by Humanities Kansas, August 10, 2018.
Tell, Dave. “Letter: The Long-Delayed Pursuit of Justice.”The Atlantic Monthly(July 26, 2018)
Tell, Dave and Patrick Weems, “How is Emmett Till Remembered?” History News Network. February 5, 2017.
Tell, Dave. “A Brief Visual History of the Bullet-Riddled Emmett Till Memorial.” Reading the Pictures. November 16, 2016.
W. Ralph Eubanks and Dave Tell, “For Better or Worse, How Mississippi Remembers Emmett Till.” Literary Hub. November 2, 2016.
Book Reviews
Tell, Dave. In Remembrance of Emmett Till: Regional Stories and Media Responses to the Black Freedom Struggle, by Darryl Mace. American Historical Review 120, no. 3 (2015): 1066-1067.
Tell, Dave. Review of American Lobotomy: A Rhetorical History, by Jenell Johnson. Quarterly Journal of Speech 101, no.1 (2015): 321-324.
Tell, Dave. Review of Letters to Power: Public Advocacy without Public Intellectuals, by Samuel McCormick. Rhetorica, 32, no. 4 (2014): 414-417.
Tell, Dave. Review of Distant Publics: Development Rhetoric and the Subject of Crisis, by Jenny Rice. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 43, no. 5 (2013): 490-493.
Tell, Dave. Review of John Brown Still Lives: America’s Long Reckoning with Violence, Equality, and Change, by R. Blakeslee Gilpin. American Studies 52.2 (2013): 168-69.
Tell, Dave. Review of The Sacrament of Language: An Achaeology of the Oath, by Giorgio Agamben. Philosophy & Rhetoric 45.4 (2012): 452-459.
Tell, Dave. Review of Rhetoric, Modality, Modernity, by Nancy Struever. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 98.1 (2012): 124-127.
Tell, Dave. Review of Centrist Rhetoric: The Production of Political Transcendence in the Clinton Presidency, by Antonio de Velasco. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 14.3 (2011): 581-584.
Tell, Dave. Review of Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History, by James A. Morone. Rhetoric and Public Affairs 9.2 (2006): 347-352.
Tell, Dave. Review of Gorgias: Sophist and Artist, by Scott Consigny. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 35.3 (2005): 137-141.
Tell, Dave. Review of The Confession of Augustine, by Jean-François Lyotard. Quarterly Journal of Speech 90.2(2004): 255-256.
Tell, Dave. Review of On Belief, by Slavoj Žižek. Philosophy & Rhetoric 37.1 (2004): 96-99.
Tell, Dave, “Misery and Memory in Glendora, Mississippi: How Poverty is Reshaping the Story of Till’s Murder,” The Conversation, May 9, 2019.
Syndicated:
Tell, Dave. “Misery and Memory in Glendora, Mississippi: How Poverty is Reshaping the Story of Till’s Murder,” Mississippi Today, May 24, 2019.
Tell, Dave (Guest columnist). “Poverty Reshapes Till’s Story.” Greenwood Commonwealth, May 16, 2019.
Tell, Dave (Associate Press). “Misery and Memory in Glendora, Mississippi: How Poverty is Reshaping the Story of Till’s Murder,” The Chicago Tribune, May 9, 2019.
Also syndicated: Raw Story, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Flip Book, History News Network, and others.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi.” Places, April 30, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “Emmett Till never feared his killers? No, he died in agony.” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, August 27, 2018.
Tell, Dave. “Till Marker was just 35 days unshot.” Tallahatchie County (MS) Sun Sentinel. August 9, 2018, 5. Reprinted by Humanities Kansas, “Till Marker was just 35 days unshot.” August 10, 2018.
Tell, Dave. “Letter: The Long-Delayed Pursuit of Justice.” The Atlantic Monthly (July 26, 2018).
Tell, Dave and Patrick Weems, “How is Emmett Till Remembered?” History News Network. February 5, 2017.
Tell, Dave. “A Brief Visual History of the Bullet-Riddled Emmett Till Memorial.” Reading the Pictures. November 16, 2016.
W. Ralph Eubanks and Dave Tell, “For Better or Worse, How Mississippi Remembers Emmett Till.” Literary Hub. November 2, 2016.
Editorial Experience
Book Review Editor, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 2014-2017.
Book Review Editor, Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 2017-2021.
Guest Editor, Advances in the History of Rhetoric. Special Issue on “Rhetoric and Its Masses.” Spring 2014.
Editorial Boards
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (2019-2022)
Rhetoric Society Quarterly (2015 -- current)
Rhetoric and Public Affairs (2014 -- current)
Quarterly Journal of Speech (2013 -- current)
Southern Communication Journal (2015 -- current)
Journal for the History of Rhetoric (2020 – current)
Advances in the History of Rhetoric (2016 -- 2019)
Voices of Democracy (current and ongoing)
Invited Public Presentations (not conferences)
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” University of Mary Washington. Great Lives Lecture Program. Fredericksburg, VA. Spring 2022.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Lansing Community Library. Lansing, KS. February 9, 2022.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Downtown. Zoom. January 18, 2022.
Tell, Dave and Mary Sanchez (PBS Journalist). Alvin Sykes and the Legacy of Emmett Till. Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Civil Rights Tour. Jewish Community Center, Overland Park, KS. November 9, 2021.
Tell, Dave. “The Long Battle: The Work of Preserving Emmett Till’s Memory.” The Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Washington, D. C. September 2, 2021. With the Rev. Wheeler Parker (Till’s cousin), Rev. Willie Williams, Jessie Jaynes-Dimming, and Germaine Hampton.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Park Campaign.” Virtual event sponsored by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center and the National Trust. With Dr. Marvel Parker, Chris Benson, Tiffany Tolbert, and Benjamin Saulsberry. August 29, 2021.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Law Firm. February 1, 2021, zoom.
Neiman, Susan, and Patrick Weems, Glenn North, and Dave Tell. “Shaping the Past.” A Conversation hosted by the Goethe Pop Up Kansas City and Monument Lab. December 1, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Zoom, October 13, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till,” Lewes Public Library. Lewes, Delaware. August 26, 2020. Zoom.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Mississippi Historical Society. Cleveland, Mississippi, March 5, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” OSHER Institute. Lawrence, KS. February 11, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” KU Edwards Campus. Lawrence, KS. February 6, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast. Jayhawk Rotary Club, Lawrence, Kansas. January 20, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” From the Civil War to Civil Rights. Spring Hill Suites, Lawrence, Kansas. November 23, 2020.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Civil Rights Tour. Jewish Community Center, Overland Park, KS. November 12, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, KS. November 5, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. Diverse Dialogues. Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, KS. September 9, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. History is Lunch, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Jackson, MS. August 14, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, MO. July 11, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. Watermark Books, Wichita, KS. June 27, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. East City Bookshop, Washington D.C. June 6, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. Park City Public Library, Park City, KS. May 15, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Book talk/signing. West Wyandotte Library, Kansas City, KS. May 13, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Museum of the Mississippi Delta. Greenwood, MS. April 6, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Jesmyn Ward and the South.” The Commons, University of Kansas. March 22, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Bishop Seabury Academy, Lawrence, KS. February 19, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” Parson Public Library, Parson, KS. February 11, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” Leavenworth Public Library, Parson, KS. February 10, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” West Wyandotte Library, Kansas City, KS. February 4, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Billie Mills Middle School, Lawrence, KS. January 18, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “The Haunting of Bryant’s Grocery.” Haunted Humanities, Lawrence, KS. October 24, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” Rotary Club of Lenexa, Lenexa, KS. October 5, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” Park City Alive! 2018. Park City Public Library, Park City, KS. August 25, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” The Friends Council. Lawrence, Kansas. April 24, 2018.
Tell, Dave. The Emmett Till Memory Project. “KU in Wichita” Annual Lecture. Wichita Museum of Art, Wichita, KS. March29, 2018.
Tell, Dave. Whiteness symposium. The Commons at KU. February 27, 2018.
Tell, Dave. The Emmett Till Memory Project. Honors Program at Sterling College. Sterling, KS. February 26, 2018.
Tell, Dave. The Emmett Till Memory Project. Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Civil Rights Tour. Jewish Community Center, Overland Park, KS. November 6, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” University Community Forum. Lawrence, KS. September 6, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Douglas County Youth Services, Lawrence, KS 66044, May 3, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Region VII, 2017 Black History Celebration Event. February 28, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility, Larned, KS. February 16, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Dodge City Public Library, Dodge City, KS. February 16, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Coffee County Library, Gridley, KS. November 14, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” City Hall, Halstead, KS. September 22, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Civil Rights Literacy and the Common Good. National Endowment for the Humanities. Jackson, Mississippi. April 29, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Lawrence High School, Lawrence, KS. April 21, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” History Club lecture. Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park, KS. April 4, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “Grain Elevators, Postmodernism, and the Humanities.” The Oread Center. Lawrence, Kansas. November3, 2015.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Friends of the Hall Center Social. Hall Center for the Humanities, The University of Kansas. October 6, 2015.
Tell, Dave. “The Unlikely Story of Grain Elevators, Architecture, and Postmodernity.” Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. August 26, 2015.
Tell, Dave. “Truman Capote and the Meanings of Kansas.” Watkins Museum. Lawrence, KS. January 13, 2015.
Tell, Dave. “Truman Capote and the Meanings of Kansas.” Graham County Public Library. Hill City, KS. December 6, 2014.
Tell, Dave. “Truman Capote and the Meanings of Kansas.” Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum. October22, 2014.
Tell, Dave. “The Unlikely Story of Grain Elevators and Postmodernity.” Lawrence Rotary Club. Lawrence, KS. September 29, 2014.
Tell, Dave, “Grain Elevators, Rhetoric, and Postmodernity.” The University of Kansas. “Red Hot Research.” March28, 2014.
Invited Academic Presentations (not conferences)
Tell, Dave. “Remembering James Meredith” University of Mississippi, Oxford. March 24, 2022
Tell, Dave. “A Public Humanities Conversation.” University of Wisconsin, Madison. April 16, 2021. Zoom.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” University of Wisconsin, Madison. April 15, 2021. Zoom.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Care Paravel Latin School. Topeka, KS. April 5, 2021.
Tell, Dave, “Digital Humanities and Digital Storytelling.” Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN. March 23, 2021. Zoom.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” W. Norwood Brigance Forum Lecture, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN. March 22, 2021. Zoom.
Tell, Dave. “Emmett Till, Digital Storytelling, and the IDRH.” Hall Center for the Humanities, Digital Humanities Seminar. Zoom. October 12, 2020.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Oregon State University. April 28, 2020. COVID CANCELLED.
Tell, Dave, William Sturkey, and Kim Gallon. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Purdue University. February 27, 2020.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” University of Southern Mississippi. February 18, 2020.
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Bethany College. January 28, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Florida State University, September 19, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “Public Humanities and Emmett Till.” Mississippi State University. March 4, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” University of Georgia, Athens, GA. February 26, 2019.
Tell, Dave. “Emmett Till Memory Project.” Digital Humanities Seminar, University of Kansas. January 29, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Penn State Berks. Reading, PA. November 5, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Memory and Media Seminar, Penn State University. October 30, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” University of North Texas. April 20, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Social Justice + The Media + You (a teach-in), University of Kansas Libraries. November 1, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” The Nexus Lab, Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona State University. October 11, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “Emmett Till, Three Murder Sites, and the Spatial Politics of Remembrance.” Dept. of English, Arizona State University. October 11, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. April 3, 2017.
Tell, Dave, “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” University of Kansas Libraries. November 30, 2016. Tell, Dave.
“The Emmett Till Memory Project.” The Erasmus Lecture at Westmont College. September 8, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Center for the Study of Southern Culture, The University of Mississippi. February 17, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “Whose Emmett Till: Reflections on Geography, Race, and Memory.” Hall Center for the Humanities. Place/Race/Space Seminar. March 9, 2015.
Tell, Dave. “Grain Elevators, Rhetoric, and Postmodernity.” Iowa State University. Department of English, Colloquium Series. October 8, 2014.
Tell, Dave, “The Rise and Fall of a Mechanical Humanities, Or, What Grain Elevators Teach Us About Postmodernity.” Wake Forest University, February 3, 2014.
Tell, Dave, “Grain Elevators, Retouched Photography, and Le Corbusier’s ‘Machine for Persuading.’” Department of Architecture, The University of Kansas. “In-Progress” lecture series. March 11, 2013.
Tell, Dave, “The Grain Elevator and the (Retouched) Photograph.” Office of International Programs, The University of Kansas, Spring 2013 International Seminar: “Architectures of the World.” February 14, 2013.
Tell, Dave. “Capote in Kansas: Rhetoric, Regionalism, and Resistance.” Lecture at the Hall Center for the Humanities. The University of Kansas. November 11, 2011.
Tell, Dave. “Confession and Sexuality: How True Story Became a Confession Magazine.” The Pennsylvania State University, March 17, 2011.
Tell, Dave. “William Styron’s Nat Turner: Rhetoric, Confession, and the Question of Violence.” Jesse B. Semple Brownbag Series, The Langston Hughes Center, The University of Kansas. April 12, 2010.
Tell, Dave. “Confessional Crises.” A presentation to the Rhetoric Reading Group at the University of Illinois. February 18, 2010.
Invited Skype/Zoom Talks (electronic appearances)
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Graduate seminar of Ekaterina Haskins, Penn State. March 30, 2021.
Tell, Dave, “Emmett Till Memory Project.” Rhode Island School of Design. DS4. March 24, 2021. Zoom.
Tell, Dave. “The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Graduate seminar of Phaedra Pezzullo, University of Colorado. March 18, 2021.
Tell, Dave, panelist on “Summit: Honoring the Anniversary of the Murder of Emmett Till.” Hosted by the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. August 28, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Emmett Till and the Digital Humanities,” Seminar of Paul Stob, Vanderbilt University, March 27, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till,” Seminar of Allison Prasch, Colorado State University, February 19, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Emmett Till and the Public Humanities,” Seminar of Kari Anderson, Colorado State University, January 28, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till.” Diversity, Communication, and Organization, University of Kansas, Edwards Campus, Kansas City. November 1, 2018.
Tell, Dave, “Remembering Emmett Till,” Seminar of Meaghan Parker Brooks, Willamette University, November 7, 2016.
Tell, Dave and Ann George. “Reading Archival Documents.” E-lecture organized by Debbie Hawhee and Jack Selzer. Over 70people from across the country tuned in. March 25, 2013.
Media Appearances
I was featured in episode three of “Let the World See.” ABC, January 20, 2022.
Work featured in The Chicago Tribune. Jay Reeves (AP) , “Emmett Till Death Investigation Ends as it Began—as a mystery.” December 12, 2021.
Work featured in The Washington Informer. “Smithsonian to Display Emmett Till Historical Marker.” September 7, 2021.
Work featured in the New York Times. Isabella Grullón Paz, “Questions Swirl after yet another Emmett Till Sign Comes Down.” September 4, 2021.
Cited in The Atlantic Monthly (print edition). “The Facts.” September, 2021.
Work featured in Hyperallergic. Valentina Di Liscia, “Emmett Till’s Life Honored in Smithsonian Exhibition.” August 31, 2021.
Work featured in the Lawrence Journal World. Rick Hellman, “KU Professor’s Writing Plays a Part in Creation Emmett Till Exhibition at Smithsonian.” August 31, 2021.
Work featured by Mississippi Center for Investigative Journalism. Jill Collen Jefferson, “The journalist who concealed the lynchers in the Emmett Till case got away with his crime.” August 27, 2021.
Work featured in the Smithsonian Magazine. Isis Davis-Marks, “Bearing Witness to Racism in America Today.” August 27, 2021.
Work featured by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “Remembering Emmett Till: From Chicago to Mississippi, Connecting Visitors with Location-Based History.”
Work featured in Memphis Commercial Appeal. Tonyaa Weathersbee, “As Confederate Statues fall and protests arise, civil rights museums are key to explaining why.” December 3, 2020. Reprinted USA Today, December 4. 2020.
Work featured in New York Times. Allyson Waller, “Church that Hosted Emmett Till’s Funderal is Designated “Endangered.” September 26, 2020.
Work featured in USA Today. Grace Hauck, “’Let the World See’: Church where 100,000 saw Emmett Till’s Open Casket is now on a list of US Endangered Historic Places. September 24, 2020.
Work featured in Chicago Tribune. Alexandra Marvar, “Remembering slain teen Emmett Till in his hometown of Chicago via Civil Rights Tourism and a Mobile App.” August 27, 2020.
Work featured on Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting. Jerry Mitchell, “A year after an Instagram photo of Ole Miss frats hoisting guns in front of a bullet-riddled Emmett Till sign went viral, questions remain.” August 28, 2020.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Keisha Rowe, “Painful Echoes: How Emmett Till’s death paved the way for Black Lives Matter 65 years later.” August 28, 2020.
Reprinted USA Today, August 28, 2020.
Work featured on “Radio Diaries,” NPR. “The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton.” August 27, 2020. Also featured on “Code Switch.”
Work featured in Chicago Sun Times. Maudlyne Ihejirika, “65 years after Emmett Till murder, his family urges landmark status for Woodlawn home.” August 27, 2020.
Work featured in Forbes. Brianne Garrett, “Emmett Till is Anne Frank to Black America.” August 26, 2020.
Work featured in Westmont Magazine. “The Living Story of Emmett Till’s Death.” Spring 2020.
Work featured in Vanity Fair. W. Ralph Eubanks, “What the Face of Emmett Till says about Every Brutalized Black Body—Then and Now.” June 4, 2020.
Work featured in the Lawrence Journal World. “Four ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. this week in Lawrence.” January 20, 2020.
Work featured in The Meridian [Mississippi] Star. “Tell awarded McLemore Prize for Emmett Till.” January 11, 2020.
Work featured on Unwinding, a podcast of the KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. “Dave Tell on race, memory, and the legacy of Emmett Till.” December 5, 2019.
Work featured on HottyToddy.com. Kazi Mehedi Hasan, “Till ‘Sign’ a Marker of Race Problems in Mississippi, US.” December 4, 2019.
Work featured in the Huffington Post. Ja’han Jones and Johnathon Kelso, “The Murder of Emmett Till is Always Under Threat.” November 23, 2019.
Work featured in The Economist. “Memories of Emmett Till.” November 14, 2019.
Featured on New Books Network podcast. Lee Peirce, “Remembering Emmett Till.” November 14, 2019.
Work featured in Washington Post. Hannah Knowles, “White Supremacists Gathered at Emmett Till’s Bulletproof Memorial to Shoot a Video,” November 4, 2019.
Work featured on CNN.com. Christina Maxouris, “A white supremacist group filmed in front of the Emmett Till sign weeks after it was made bulletproof.” November, 4, 2019.
Work featured in New York Times. The Editorial Board, “Why the New Emmett Till Memorial Needed to be Bulletproof.” October 23, 2019.
Work featured in Lawrence Journal World. Dylan Lysen, “’Haunting Humanities’ event to bring KU research to the public with a Halloween twist.” October 23, 2018.
Interviewed by Larry Hicks. “Let’s Talk About It.” KABF-FM 88.3, Little Rock, AR. September 17, 2018. 9:00 –9:30am.
Work featured in the Greenwood Commonwealth. Kathryn Eastburn, “Report: Price Tag Holding Up Work.” August 30,2018.
Work featured in the University Daily Kansan. Sydney Hoover, “Emmett Till’s death the focus of a KU Professor’s new app.” September 4, 2018.
Work featured on The Root. Michael Harriot, “Holding History Hostage: One Family’s Quiet Attempt to Erase their Father’s Part in Emmett Till’s Story.” August 30 2018.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Bracey Harris, “Emmett Till photo incensed and inspired a generation.” August 30, 2018.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “’The just want history to die’: Owners demand
" $4 million for crumbling Emmett Till store.” August 29, 2018.
Interviewed on NPR by Carla Eckels. NPR News Now, August 28, 2018. At 3:19 of the 7am ET broadcast and 3:29 of the 12pm ET broadcast.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till’s killers Tried to Erase this Place.” August 27, 2018.
Work featured in USA Today. Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till: Finding the Truth Behind Decades of Lies.” August 25, 2018.
Same article in Jackson Clarion Ledger, August 26, 2018.
Interview with Carla Eckels, KMUW 89.1, Kansas Public Radio. “Transform the Present: Remembering the Story of Emmett Till,” Morning Edition, August 24, 2018.
Replayed on KANU 91.5, Kansas Public Radio, “Transform the Present: Remembering the Story of Emmett Till,” Morning Edition, August 27, 2018.
Video interview by Jerry Mitchell in the Jackson, MS Clarion Ledger. “Emmett Till Myth #1: He was murdered by only two killers.” August 22, 2018.
Video interview by Jerry Mitchell in the Jackson, MS Clarion Ledger. “Emmett Till Myth #2: He was murdered in Tallahatchie County.” August 22, 2018.
Video interview by Jerry Mitchell in the Jackson, MS Clarion Ledger. “Emmett Till Myth #3: He wasn’t scared when he was tortured and killed.” August 22, 2018.
Work featured on Smithsonian.com. Jason Daley, “A Memorial Sign to Emmett Till Was Defaced With Four Bullet Holes,” August 8, 2018.
Work featured in New York Post. Tamir Lapin, “Emmett Till memorial sign riddled with bullets – again.” August 7, 2018.
Work featured in Time. Alix Langone, “Emmett Till Memorial Sign Vandalized With Bullets, 35 Days After Being Replaced,” August 7, 2018. .
Work featured in HyperAllergic. Jasmine Weber, “A Historical Marker Commemorating Emmett Till’s Death Is Riddled with Bullets, Again,” August 7, 2018. .
Work featured in Teen Vogue. Jameelah Nasheed, “Someone Shot the Sign Marking the Spot Emmett Till's Body Was Found — Again,” August 6, 2018.
Work featured in Washington Post. Alex Horton, “The spot where Emmett Till’s body was found is marked by this sign. People keep shooting it up.” August 5, 2018.
Reprinted: Chicago Tribune, August 6, 2018.
Work featured in The Grio. Ny MaGee, “This is America: Emmett Till sign vandalized again,” August 5, 2018.
Work featured in Newsweek. Benjamin Fearnow, “Emmett Till Mississippi Memorial sign riddled with Bullets 35 days after being replaced.” August 5, 2018.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “Just 35 days after being replaced, Emmett Till sign hit with bullets.” August 3, 2018.
Interviewed on the BBC by Jonny Dymond. “World at One,” July 13, 2018. Minutes 37:09-42:30.
Work featured in Atlanta Journal Constitution. Ernie Suggs, “Justice Department reopens Emmett Till murder case 63 years after gruesome murder.” July 11, 2018, page A1.
Work featured in New York Times. Sopan Deb, “With Emmett Till Reference, Camille Cosby Invokes Oft-Used Cultural Touchstone” May 4, 2018.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “Vandalized Emmett Till Sign to be Replaced, rededicated Tuesday—his Birthday,” July 21, 2017.
Work featured on NPR. Amy Held, “Emmett Till Sign Vandalized Again,” June 27, 2017.
Work featured in New Orleans’ The Times-Picayune. Peter Holley, “An Emmett Till Historical Marker is Vandalized, Again.” June 27, 2017.
Work featured in New York Post. Chris Perez, “Historical Marker Honoring Emmett Till Defaced by Vandals.” June 27, 2017.
Work featured in USA Today. Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till Marker in Mississippi Vandalized, Erased.” June 27, 2017.
Work featured in The Washington Post. Peter Holley, “An Emmett Till Historical Marker in Mississippi was destroyed by vandals—again.” June 26, 2017.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “Another Emmett Till sign attacked – and this time erased,” June 26, 2017.
Consulted for New York Times: Upfront. Veronica Majerol, “Emmett Till Revisited,” April 3, 2017. Multiple interviews for this story.
Work featured in The University Daily Kansan. Tanner Hassell, “KU Professor preserve story of Emmett Till through newApp, Digital Experience.” March 1, 2017.
Work featured on Channel 6 Lawrence Evening News. Rose Claire, “A Case that Sparked the Civil Rights Movement Comes to KU.” February 21, 2017. (Channel 6, no longer in service)
Work featured on Okayplayer. Elijah Watson, “Emmett Till Trial Courthouse to be Turned into Interactive Museum.” February 16, 2017.
Work featured on Newsone. Angela Bronner Helm, “Emmett Till Courthouse to be Converted into a Museum.” February 15, 2017.
Work featured in Christian Science Monitor. Gretel Kauffman, “Could a confession from Emmett Till accuser lead to a new investigation?” February 10, 2017.
Work featured in Diverse Issues in Higher Education 34, no. 4. Pearl Stewart, “Professor uses interactive technology to tell Emmett Till story.” March 23, 2017. Page 6. Online: February 7, 2017.
Work featured in The University Daily Kansan. Courtney Bierman, “Professor to write book exploring Emmett Till’s Legacy Today.” January 29, 2017.
Work featured in Afro. Zenitha Prince, “Emmett Till Courtroom to be Transformed into Digital Museum.” January 27, 2017.
Work featured in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. “Courtroom where Emmett Till’s Murderers were Acquitted to be a History Museum.” January 24, 2017.
Work featured in KU Today. Rick Hellman, “Grant to expand professor’s work commemorating civil- rights martyr.” January 17, 2017.
Interviewed on the BBC. “Kenya’s Minibus Menace.” October 29, 2016. Emmett Till work featured from minutes 11-17.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “$20K Raised to Replace bullet-riddled Emmett Till Sign.” October 25, 2016.
Work featured in New York Times. Katie Rogers, “Struggling for an Emmett Till Memorial that Withstands Gunshots.” October 24, 2016.
Work featured in Washington Post. Derek Hawkins, “Emmett Till was brutally slain in 1955. Now, a sign marking where his body was found is riddled with bullet holes.” October 24, 2016.
Work featured in Time magazine. Maya Rhodan, “Emmett Till Memorial Sign was Shot Up by Vandals.” October 24, 1016.
Work featured in Vox. Jenee Desmond-Harris, “Someone shot 30 holes in the Emmett Till Memorial. The sentiment behind that is normal in politics.” October 24, 2016.
Work featured in Buzz Feed. Tamerra Griffin, “An Emmett Till Sign in Mississippi has been Vandalized with Bullet Holes.” October 22, 2016.
Work Featured in Christian Science Monitor. Zhai Yun Tan, “Now More than ever, they’re not giving up on Emmett Till Memorials.” October 20, 2016.
Consulted for CNN. Andreas Preuss, “Emmett Till Sign Scarred by Bullet Holes.” October 22, 2016. Interview with JohnNewsome on October 21, 2016.
Work featured in USA Today. Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till Marker in Mississippi Riddled with Bullets.” October 22, 2016.
Work featured in Jackson Clarion Ledger. Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till Sign Vandalized.” October 20, 2016.
Emmett Till Memory Project featured in New York Daily News. Laura Bult, “Sign Marking Site Where Emmett Till’s Body was Found is Riddled with Bullet Holes.” October 19, 2006.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Christopher Colbeck, The Southern Documentary Project. Center for Southern Studies, The University of Mississippi. February 17, 2016.
Work featured on “Mississippi Edition.” Mississippi Public Broadcasting. February 22, 2016.
Work featured in Topeka Capital-Journal. “KU Professor Part of Emmett Till Memory Project Available through Smartphone App.” February 20, 2016.
Work featured in KU Today. Christine Howard Metz, “App allows users to retrace pivotal moment in civil rights history.” February 15, 2016.
Work featured in Florida State 24/7. Amy Farnum-Patronis, "FSU Researcher Uses Technology to tell Civil Rights Icon’s Story.” February 12, 2016.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Eric Holcomb on KLWN 1320, “Mid-Mornings with Eric Holcomb.” Lawrence, KS. February 3, 2016. The Emmett Till Memory Project.
Work featured in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. “The Role of Geography and Race in Remembrances of the Murder of Emmett Till.” February 3, 2016.
Work featured in News & Events (Florida State University). Kate Mullen, “FSU Professor Davis Houck Creates ‘Emmett Till Trail’ App with Google.” August 28, 2015.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Bruce Harrison on KBIW, Topeka, KS. “Emmett Till Memory Project.” July 16, 2015.
Work featured in KU Today. Christine Howard Metz, “Sixty years after Emmett Till’s murder, app will help tell the many side story.” July 15, 2015.
Work featured in Atlanta Black Star. Nick Chiles, “Mississippi Town Opens Emmett Till Museum So The World WillRemember Ugliness of This Horrific Emblem of Racial Terrorism.” March 23, 2015.
Work featured in The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, MS). Jerry Mitchell, “Emmett Till Family Returns for Courthouse Dedication.” March 21, 2015. Additional story info
Work featured in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. “Creating an Electronic ‘Freedom Trail’ of Civil Rights Sites.” March 18, 2015.
Work featured in University Daily Kansan. Skylar Rolstad, “University Professor Develops App about Emmett Till’s Murder.” March 10, 2015.
Work featured in Lawrence Journal World. Sara Shepherd, “KU Professor Creating Digital App To Interpret Black Teen’s 1955 Murder,” Lawrence Journal World, February 26, 2015.
Work featured in KU Today. Samantha Bishop Simmons, “Award Winner to Develop App about Murder of Emmett Till.” February 26, 2015.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Eric Holcomb on KLWN, “Mid-Mornings with Eric Holcomb.” Lawrence, KS. January 8, 2015.Re-aired January 10, 2015.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Alex Dingman on KBIW, Topeka, KS. December 9, 2014.
Work featured in KU Today. Christine Howard Metz, “Grain Elevators Led Double Life in Shaping Modern Architecture.” April 11, 2014.
Award-winning RSQ essay featured in the Lawrence Journal World. August 25, 2013.
Tell, Dave, interviewed by Steve Kraske on “Up to Date,” KCUR, Kansas City, KS. “Truman Capote’s Take on TrueCrime.” Nov. 11, 2012.
Work featured in KU Today. Kristi Henderson, “Communication Studies Professor Wins National Award.” August 20, 2012.
Plenary Addresses at Conferences
Tell, Dave. “Remembering Emmett Till.” Mississippi Historical Society. Cleveland Historical Society. March 5, 2020.
Tell, Dave, “Modernity, Measurement, Memory, and the Modulor.” American Society for the History of Rhetoric, Austin, TX. February 15, 2019.
Tell, Dave, “Can a Gas Station Remember a Murder.” Celebrating Rhetoric, The Pennsylvania State University.November 3, 2017.
Tell, Dave. “A Brief History of a Utopian Gesture: A Response to Kelly Happe.” Public Address Conference,Syracuse. October 1, 2016.
Tell, Dave. “Whose Emmett Till: Reflection on Geography, Race, and Memory.” KEYNOTE Address: The AmericanSociety for the History of Rhetoric. May 27, 2016. Atlanta, Georgia.
Tell, Dave. “Obama, Agency, and the Containment Thesis: A Response to John Murphy.” Invited response to John M. Murphy’s plenary talk. The Obama Phenomenon. Texas A&M University. March 5, 2010.
Top Paper Awards at Conferences
Top Paper Award. Awarded by the Kenneth Burke Society for “Kenneth Burke and the Politics of Pure Persuasion,” 2007.
Top Paper Panel. Awarded by the American Studies division of NCA for “The ‘Shocking Story’ of Emmett Till and thePolitics of Public Confession,” 2006.
Outstanding Student Paper Award. Awarded by the American Society for the History of Rhetoric for “ConfessingRhetoric: Augustine and the Politics of Confession,” 2006.
Top Paper Award. Awarded by the Kenneth Burke Society for “Burke’s Encounter with Ransom: Rhetoric andEpistemology in ‘Four Master Tropes,’” 2004.
Top Paper Panel. Awarded by the Rhetorical and Communication Theory division of NCA for “The Individual and theNature of Richard M. Weaver’s Rhetorical Theory,” 2003.
Conference Presentations (*competitively selected)
“Can a River Remember a Murder?” Rhetoric Society of America. Baltimore, MD, May 2022.
“Resilience through Resistance: Regionalism and Reconstructing Southern Rhetoric. Southern States Communication Association Convention. April 2022.
“Publishing and Publicly Engaged Scholarship: Model Practices for Publication in the Humanities.” With Kath Burton (Taylor & Francis), Daniel Fisher (National Humanities Alliance), Judy Ruttenberg (Association of Research Library), Michelle Urberg (Maverick Publishing Specialists), and Elizabeth Waraksa.” Society for Scholarly Publishing. May 25, 2021.
“Effective Publication Practices for Engaged Scholarship in the Humanities,” With Daniel Fisher (National Humanities Alliance), Catherine Cocks (Michigan State University Press), and Katherine Burton (Taylor & Francis), 7:AM (AltMetrics) Convention. October 28, 2020.
“Data and Metadata in the Digital Humanities.” NISO Humanities Roundtable: Building Diversity, Building Accessibility, Building Better.” Zoom. September 23, 2020.
“Can a River Remember a Murder?” Rhetoric Society of America. Portland, OR, 2020.
“Four Books for the Future of African-American History.” National Communication Association. Baltimore, 2019.
“Emmett Till: Archival Survival.” National Communication Association. Baltimore, 2019.
“The Emmett Till Memory Project.” Digital Humanities Forum. Institute for Digital Research in the Humanities. University of Kansas. October 3, 2019.
“Rhetoric, Race, and Field Work.” National Communication Association. Salt Lake City. November 2018.
“Can a Gas Station Remember a Murder.” Rhetoric Society of America. Minneapolis. June 2018. “Of Race andRivers: Emmett Till, Topography, and Memory.” Rhetoric Society of America. Minneapolis. June 2018.
“The New Relativism.” The Liberal Arts in a Post-Truth World. Westmont College. Santa Barbara, California. March23, 2018.
“Rhetorical Fieldwork: Roundtable Discussion.” National Communication Association. Dallas, 2017. “Place, Property, and Freedom in the Putney Debates.” Rhetoric Society of America. Atlanta, 2016. “Height, Gender, and Measurement: LeCorbusier and the Dream of a Liberal Measure.” Rhetoric Society of America. Atlanta, 2016.
“New Materialism and Critical Regionalism: A Response.” National Communication Association. Las Vegas, 2015.
“Critical Commonplaces.” National Communication Association. Las Vegas, 2015.
“Rhetoric, Motion, and de Certeau.” University of South Carolina Conference on Rhetorical Theory. Columbia, 2015.
“Grain Elevators, Postmodernism, and Becoming-Symbolic.” International Communication Association. San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 2015.
“A Century of Scholarship and So Much More: On the Past, Present, Future(s) of the Quarterly Journal of Speech.” Participant in Roundtable Discussion. National Communication Association. Chicago 2014.
“Geography, Gender, and Le Corbusier’s Modulor.” Participant in Roundtable Discussion on Feminist Geographies.National Communication Association. Chicago 2014.
“History, Fiction, and The Commonwealth of Oceana.” Rhetoric Society of America. San Antonio, 2014. “Grain Elevators andthe History of Rhetoric, or the Rise and Fall of an Ars Mechanica.” Rhetoric Society of America. San Antonio, 2014.
“Rhetoric and Modern Architecture.” University of South Carolina Conference on Rhetorical Theory. Columbia, 2013.
“Rhetoric, Rationality, and Judicial Activism.” National Communication Association, Orlando, 2012. With Eric Miller.
“Of Locke and Land.” Rhetoric Society of America, Philadelphia, 2012.
“Capote in Kansas: The Making of a Region,” Modern Language Association, Seattle, 2012.
“Capote in Kansas: The Making of a Region.” National Communication Association, New Orleans, 2011. “Power asSublimation: Walter Lippmann’s Political Psychology,” National Communication Association, New Orleans, 2011.
“William Styron’s Nat Turner: The Genre of Confession and the Question of Violence.” National CommunicationAssociation, San Francisco, 2010.
*“Bill Clinton, Kenneth Starr, and the Witch-Hunt Tradition of American Confession.” National CommunicationAssociation, San Francisco, 2010.
“The Future of the History of Rhetoric.” National Communication Association, San Francisco, 2010. “Rousseau and the Evasion of Sacrifice.” National Communication Association, San Francisco, 2010. “The Leviathan and RhetoricalAnxiety.” Rhetoric Society of America, Minneapolis, 2010.
“Tropology and Democracy: An RCT Response.” National Communication Association, Chicago, 2009.
“James L. Golden Award for Undergraduate Research: A Response.” National Communication Association,Chicago, 2009.
*“James McGreevey and the Modern Public Confession.” National Communication Association, San Diego, 2008.
*“The Confession of Jimmy Swaggart: Expressivism, Speech, Politics.” National Communication Association, SanDiego, 2008.
“The Poverty of Language and The Social Contract.” Rhetoric Society of America, Seattle, 2008.
“Rousseau and the Politics of Simplicity.” National Communication Association, Chicago, 2007.
“Kenneth Burke and the Politics of Pure Persuasion.” National Communication Association, Chicago, 2007. Top Paper inthe Kenneth Burke Society.
“The Jeremiad, Manifesto, and Confession: A Typology of Protestant Protest.” American Society for the History ofRhetoric, Chicago, 2007. Co-authored with Ned O’Gorman.
“The ‘Shocking Story of Emmett Till and the Politics of Public Confession.” National Communication Association, SanAntonio, 2006. Top Paper in the American Studies Division.
“Confessing Rhetoric: Augustine and the Politics of Confession.” National Communication Association, San Antonio, 2006. Outstanding Student Paper, American Society for the History of Rhetoric.
“The ‘Shocking Story of Emmett Till and the Politics of Public Confession.” The Graduate Exhibition at Penn State,March 2006.
“The Failure of the Pentad and the Emergence of the Self: Reading Stanton through Burke and Kant.” NationalCommunication Association, Boston, 2005.
“How Power Evaded Publicity: The Promise and Peril of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate.” National CommunicationAssociation, Boston, 2005.
"The Politics of Confession and the Meaning of America." Institute for the Arts and Humanities, The Pennsylvania StateUniversity, September 2005.
“Stories from the Kenneth Burke Archives.” Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition and the TriennialConference of the Kenneth Burke Society, 2005.
“How Power Evaded Publicity: The Promise and Peril of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate.” Rhetoric Society of AmericaInstitute, Kent State University, 2005.
“Play as Pataphysics: The Gorgianic Logismos and the Art of Possibility.” Eastern Communication Association,Pittsburgh, 2005
“Confession: Augustine’s Memory Beyond Mind.” National Communication Association, Chicago, 2004.
“The Conditions of Political Engagement: Ethical Action for Richard Rorty and Augustine.” National CommunicationAssociation, Chicago, 2004.
“Grammar, Rhetoric, and Epistemology in Kenneth Burke’s ‘Four Maser Tropes.’” National CommunicationAssociation, Chicago, 2004. Top Student Paper in the Kenneth Burke Society.
“Grammar, Rhetoric, and Epistemology in Kenneth Burke’s ‘Four Master Tropes.’” Rhetoric Society of America, Memphis, 2004.
“The Man and the Message: Timothy Dwight and Homiletic Authorization.” National Communication Association,Miami, 2003.
“The Individual and the Nature of Richard M. Weaver’s Rhetorical Theory.” National Communication Association,Miami, 2003. Top Paper in Rhetorical and Communication Theory.
“Richard Rorty, Rhetoric, and the Possibility of Religion.” Rhetoric’s Roadtrips: The Penn State Conference onRhetoric and Composition, State College, 2003.
“Lyman Beecher’s Strategic Adaptations of Prophetic Rhetoric.” National Communication Association, New Orleans, 2002.
“The Undoing of John F. Kennedy: An Analysis of the Religious Rhetoric of Joseph Lieberman and John Kennedy.”National Communication Association, Atlanta, 2001.
“Tear Down the Walls: An Inquiry into Technology and Culture.” The Tenth Annual Conference on CommunicationEthics, Los Angeles, 1997.
Teaching Experience
Graduate Courses, The University of Kansas
Spring 2021 COMS 930: Rhetoric and Memory Studies
Spring 2020 COMS 930: Rhetoric and Race
Spring 2019 COMS 959: Theories of Rhetoric: Contemporary
Fall 2018 COMS 930: Rhetoric and Memory Studies
Spring 2018 COMS 959: Theories of Rhetoric: Contemporary
Fall 2017 COMS 930: Rhetorics of Space and Place
Spring 2015 COMS 930: Rhetoric and Public Memory
Fall 2014 COMS 851: Communication Research: Historical and Descriptive
Spring 2014 COMS 930: Rhetoric and Science
Spring 2013 COMS 930: Foucault and Biopolitics
Fall 2012 COMS 930: Rhetoric, Space, Postmodernity
Spring 2012 ENG 904: Seminar in Composition Theory: The Rhetoric of Counterpublics (co-taught with Frank Farmer)
Fall 2009 COMS 930: Contemporary Theories of Public Address
Spring 2009 COMS 930: Michel Foucault and the Scripted Self
Spring 2008 COMS 930: Postmodern Theory and Rhetoric
Undergraduate Courses, The University of Kansas
Fall 2021 COMS 496: Rhetoric and Memory Studies
Fall 2021 HNRS 190: Freshmen Seminar
Summer 2021 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition (online)
Summer 2020 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition (online)
Spring 2020 HNRS: University Scholars Seminar (top 15 sophomores in the university), “The Past is Never Dead”
Fall 2019 COMS 496: Rhetoric and Memory Studies
Fall 2019 HNRS 190: Freshmen Seminar
Summer 2019 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition (online)
Fall 2018 HNRS 190: Freshmen Seminar
Summer 2018 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition (online)
Spring 2018 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2017 HNRS 190: Freshmen Seminar
Spring 2016 COMS 560: Rhetoric, Violence, and Memory
Fall 2015 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2015 COMS 232: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2014 HNRS 190: Freshmen Seminar
Summer 2014: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2014 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Summer 2013: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2013: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2012: COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Summer 2012: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2012: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Summer 2011: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2011 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Spring 2011: COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2010 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2010 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Summer 2010 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition (2 sections)
Spring 2010 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2010 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Fall 2009 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Summer 2009 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2009 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Summer 2008 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Spring 2008 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Fall 2007 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Fall 2007 COMS 435: Forms and Styles of American Public Discourse
Summer 2007 COMS 332: The Rhetorical Tradition
Service
Disciplinary Service
American Society for the History of Rhetoric
Past-President: 2013-2015: I chaired a committee to find a new editor for Advances in the History of Rhetoric. Appointed Art Walzer, University of Minnesota.
President, 2011-2013. I planned a 1.5 day symposium in Philadelphia in 2012 titled “Rhetoric and its Masses.”
I raised nearly $5,000, recruited three keynoters, vetted 50 participant abstracts, and made all the local arrangements.
Vice President, 2010-2011. I chaired a committee to find a new editor for Advances in the History of Rhetoric. Appointed Ekaterina Haskins, Rensselaer Polytechnic University.
Second Vice President, 2009-2010
Rhetoric Society of America
Public Humanities Officer, 2018-2021. 2021-2024
Board of Directors, 2015-2017.
Director and Local Host, 2013 Rhetoric Society of America Institute. This was a 400-person conference held on KU’s campus in June 2013. I was in charge of assembling the program, recruiting 51 senior scholars to lead sessions, raising nearly $20,000, and all of the local arrangements.
Session Leader at RSA’s bi-annual institutes: 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2021.
University Service (selected)
Chair, University Scholarly Achievement Committee, 2020 – current.
Hall Center for the Humanities Executive Committee, 2020 – current.
College Committee on Promotion, Appointments, and Tenure, 2018-2021.
University Scholarly Achievement Award Committee, 2019-2022
University Committee on Distinguished Professorships, 2018-2021.
College Research Excellence Initiative Review Panel, 2020.
Executive Council of Graduate Faculty. 2015.
Advisory Board, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, 2013 – present.