Edwin Black at Wisconsin, 1967–1994

In this account, three facts are salient: Ed Black came to Wisconsin, stayed here, and for more than a quarter of a century contributed importantly to the department and its students and to the University. Accounts of Ed's scholarship, his influence in the field of rhetorical scholarship, and his impact on a generation of rhetorical critics are tasks assigned to others.

He came to Wisconsin in the fall of 1967 as a full professor, at a salary of $14,100, in the Department of Speech (later, Communication Arts). The highest paid professor, at $20,000, was Frederick Haberman, our chairman. At that time, our standard teaching load was three courses, barring administrative or other duties. Ed's first semester courses were: 181, Honors Public Speaking; 674, Rhetorical Analysis; and 900, Introduction to Research, for new graduate students. In 1967–68, our rhetoric and public address faculty were Black, Bitzer, Haberman, James McNally, Lawrence Rosenfield, Myrvin Christopherson, and (with divided appointments) Ronald Allen and Herman Brockhaus. Closely allied, in the emerging field of Communication Studies, were Winston Brembeck, Fred Williams, and Gordon Whiting. Besides these, the department's additional dozen or so members were in theater-drama and radio-television-film.

As early as December 1964, I had talked with Ed, then at the University of Pittsburgh, about possibly joining us at Wisconsin. On February 17, 1965, he wrote: "Your question about my interest in moving from Pitt has caused me to do a good deal of hard thinking lately." Pittsburgh, he explained, was in a financial pinch, the duration and dimensions of which were unclear. "For the present, I want to stay here. I've been happy and well treated. . . . But I'm leaving myself free to change my mind in ten months." My next letter, of February 25, pumped up our newly developed course offerings and underscored opportunities for Ed: "I think you would find plenty of opportunity for teaching and research in just the areas that interest you most. Too, there is a kind of interaction among the staff that is invigorating." And I concluded: "Let me know at once if your view changes. . . . I'm not in command here, of course; but I can turn on the administrative machinery." A few months passed. On October 6, 1965, I wrote, "You'll be interested in the fact that two or three students in my new course (Survey, Theories of Rhetoric) are writing their first paper on Black's interpretation of Plato on rhetoric. . . . Any news there? Or do you have by now any reliable signs of the future at Pittsburgh?" Months passed, with no sign that he might be moved. Then, he phoned; he said it was time to set the machinery in motion. Chairman Haberman talked with Ed, conferred with department faculty, negotiated with the Dean of Letters and Science, and formally offered Ed a position at Wisconsin, which he accepted at once.

But the transition was not without incident. After moving belongings to Madison in the summer of 1967, Ed traveled to Europe for a break before commencing fall teaching. While in London, he was hospitalized because of an attack of ulcers, for which he had surgery immediately, on August 11. On August 20 he wrote saying that after successful surgery he was recovering steadily. Indeed, "my recovery has been so inexorable that, had it happened in an earlier age, I would have entered the legends of British medicine as Edwin the Ox. . . . Next Saturday, August 26, I'll get on a plane and return to Madison." But the problem returned; and in March 1969 he had another surgery, this time in Madison, which was completely successful.

Rapidly Ed perfected courses in rhetorical criticism that he would teach regularly over the years: 476 (later 576), Nature of Criticism, for juniors and seniors plus entering graduate students; 674, Rhetorical Analysis, mainly for graduate students; and 976, a graduate seminar in rhetorical criticism. Many undergraduate majors with focus in rhetoric and public address took at least one course with Ed; and except in rare instances, our graduate students took at least two. As well...