Speech began a new chapter at Dartmouth when it was incorporated into the newly created Institute for Writing and Rhetoric in 2008, after existing as the Office of Speech for several years. In its first year as part of the Institute, one Lecturer in Speech taught five Speech classes: three sections of Public Speaking and one section each of Persuasive Public Speaking and Speechwriting. In the next year, Dartmouth hired a second lecturer, and by 2012, Dartmouth’s curriculum had more than tripled its number of distinct Speech courses.
As the Speech curriculum grew, so too did the reach of Speech beyond the classroom walls. From its first year as part of the Institute through 2013, Speech professors presented more than 50 workshops or sessions on public speaking, discussion, argumentation, and speech theory.