Barbara Willard

bwillard@depaul.edu
Associate Professor, Communication Studies
PhD (University of Iowa)
Communication and Media; Communication Studies
(312) 362-7468
Munroe Hall, Room 121

Professor Willard's research focuses on environmental communication and the ways in which it shapes beliefs and behaviors that impact our natural world. She investigates how agricultural rhetoric informs and influences US cultural eating practices that have a significant bearing on sustainability. She examines the rhetoric of landscapes as they are both read by and created by humans. She explores how the transformation of blighted urban areas into farms and community gardens become symbolic sites of empowerment and reconnection with the community and the land. She also studies best practices for promoting pro-environmental behavior such as natural landscaping and support for restoration practices.

Willard has published articles and book reviews in a variety of journals including Environmental Communication, Women's Studies in Communication, and Rhetoric Society Quarterly. A past recipient of DePaul's Excellence in Teaching Award, she teaches courses in environmental studies, rhetorical studies, and sustainability.  She is an affiliate faculty member of the Department of Environmental Science and Studies.

Book Chapters

Willard, B. (2021). Coloring outside the Lines: Symbolic legitimacy and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In Hannan, J. (Ed.) Meatsplaining: The animal agriculture industry and the rhetoric of denial. Sydney, AU: Sydney University Press.
Willard, B. (2014) "Reinhabiting the Land: From Vacant Lots to Garden Plots". In Besel, R. Blau, J. (Eds.)Performance on Behalf of the Environment, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp. 93–113.

Willard, B. (2011)."A garden in Eden". In Green, C. Heneghan, L. (Eds.). Brute neighbors: Urban nature poems, essays, and photographs. DePaul Humanities Center, DePaul Poetry Institute and DePaul Institute for Nature and Culture.

Articles

Isidore, U. & Willard, B. (2023). Community-Based Social Marketing: A Supplemental Approach to Improve Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Health in Nigeria. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 17(2), 119-134.
Willard, B. (2007). Rhetorical Landscapes as Epistemic: Revisiting Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 1(2), pp. 218-235.
Willard, B. (2005). Feminist interventions in biomedical discourse: An analysis of the rhetoric of integrative medicine. Women's Studies in Communication, 28(1), 115-148.

Willard, B. Winsten, K. (November, 2004). "Promoting native landscaping: Barriers and motivations for Chicagoland residents"/ Chicago Wilderness Journal.
Willard, B. (2002) "The American story of meat: Discursive influences on cultural eating practices". Journal of Popular Culture, 36(1), 105-118.

Exhibits

Willard, B. Harp, S. (2005). Photographic Exhibit - Biography of Landscape: Reading the Landscape of Jackson Park. DePaul Art Museum, 9/05–11/05.

Media

Climate Change is Fueling Extreme Weather. How do we Make a Difference? – 2/6/2023 (Chicago Tribune)
Teaching Climate Hope as Students Envision a No-Carbon 2050 Future 8/17/2022 (Yale Climate Connections)
National Public Radio – Worldview interview 1/13/2013: "Ecomyths: Is Organic Food Overrated?"
National Public Radio – Worldview interview 11/19/2015: "Food Waste"
DePaul Art Minute: "How Art Illustrates Environmental Issues"

Honors

DePaul ENGAGE Award, 2012
Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Communication