Janet Hoffmann

Background

About Janet Hoffmann

Janet Hoffmann believes that growing up in Illinois and making an early pilgrimage to Abraham Lincoln’s law office and home in Springfield as well as visiting all seven of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate sights predestined her intellectual passion for both oratory and civic engagement. Her academic credentials include a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude in Speech Communication from Florida State University, a Master of Arts in Speech Communication from San Jose State University, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Speech Communication from the University of Washington. Currently a Professor of Rhetoric at Georgia College & State University, the state’s designated Public Liberal Arts University, Hoffmann has spent over 40 years teaching, coaching, studying, and practicing the art and craft of public oratory including courses in Public Deliberation, Public Speaking, Public Achievement, Persuasion, Parliamentary Debate, Classical Communication Theory, Small Group Communication, Interpersonal Communication, and Instructional Communication. She is co-author of the textbook "The Speaker's Voice". Since joining Georgia College in 2002 she has served as one of the founding members of the Georgia College American Democracy Project (2003), a Governor’s Teaching Fellow Presiding Officer of the University Senate (2011-12), a research associate for the National Issues Forum Institute (2014-present), President of the Georgia Communication Association (2018-2020), recipient of the Georgia College Irene Rose Community Service Award (2014) and the University-wide Distinguished Service Award (2018). She was recently honored to receive the inaugural Flisch-Harris award for Leadership in Service to a Liberal Education (2022) from the Georgia College chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa, the nation's oldest Leadership Honor Society. Her passion is helping students find and use their voice in service to the public good.