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Dr. Lisa Gring-Pemble, an associate professor at �鶹��Ƶ, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication (Rhetoric) from the University of Maryland. Since joining �鶹��Ƶ in 2000, she has pursued teaching and research in three main areas: 1) rhetorical criticism, argumentation, and persuasion 2) political communication and public policy, and 3) social impact and community-driven development. She is author of Grim Fairy Tales: The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy and co-editor of Readings on Political Communication. Her work has appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Political Communication, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and Communication Quarterly, among others. Gring-Pemble is passionate about teaching and is the recipient of the 2005 �鶹��Ƶ Teaching Excellence Award, 2017 OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award, 2019 �鶹��Ƶ Alumni Association Faculty of the Year Award, and 2024 John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. She is committed to sustainability initiatives at �鶹��Ƶ and around the globe in her capacity as co-founder of the �鶹��Ƶ Honey Bee Initiative, Founding Co-Executive Director of the Business for a Better World Center, and advisory board member of the Virginia Climate Center. Gring-Pemble serves on the advisory board of Undocu�鶹��Ƶ and is an ardent supporter of DACA, undocumented, and TPS students. Finally, over the past seven years, Gring-Pemble has collaborated with faculty and staff at the College of Public Health in a variety of capacities including serving as a lead mentor for the Learning Laboratory for Population and Social Health, and serving as a co-principal investigator on a variety of grants focused on community-driven development and public health.

Research Interests

• Social impact, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Rhetorical criticism, argument, persuasion
• Political communication and public policy

Education

Ph.D. Communication (Rhetoric), University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, May 2000.

Dissertation Title: “Constructing ‘Welfare As We Know It’”: A Rhetorical Analysis of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act”

M.A. Communication, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 1996.

B.A., Magna Cum Laude, Political Science and Hispanic Studies; Asian Studies Minor, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1992. International Study Abroad: Italy, Spain, Egypt, India, Nepal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, & Japan (1990-1991) Phi Beta Kappa

Research and Awards

Books

• Sheckels, Ted, Janette Kenner Muir, Terry Robertson and Lisa Gring-Pemble.Readings on Political Communication. State College, PA: Strata Publishers, 2007.
• Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. Your Sons and Daughters Will Prophesy: 19th Century Women Claim Their Voice. Under Contract with the University of South Carolina Press.
• Gring-Pemble, Lisa. Grim Fairy Tales:  The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy. Westport, CT:  Praeger Press, 2003. Reviewed in the July 2004 issue of CHOICE, an American Library Association publication.

Articles (Select)

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. Your Daughters Will Prophesy: Religion and Rhetoric in the 19th Century Woman’s Movement. University of South Carolina Press, May 2025.

Lisa Gring-Pemble, Greg Unruh, Efrat Shaked. January 2025. “Implementing a stakeholder capitalism approach through values-based leadership: Case Studies in the Private, Nonprofit, and Educational Sectors.” Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business and Society, vol. 25.1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-03-2023-0110

Gring-Pemble, Lisa. Grim Fairy Tales: The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 2003.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa and Germán Perilla. 2020. "Sustainable Beekeeping, Community Driven-Development, and Tri-Sector Solutions with Impact" Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society. Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-01-2020-0019

Gring-Pemble, Lisa and Cher Weixia Chen. “Patriarchy Prevails: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis of Equal Pay Discourses”. Women and Language 41, no. 2 (2018): 79-103.

Levasseur, David and Lisa M. Gring-Pemble. “Not All Capitalist Stories are Created Equal: Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital Narrative and the Deep Divide in American Economic Rhetoric.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 18, no. 1 (2015): 1-32.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “It’s We the People . . . , Not We The Illegals”: Extremist Rhetoric in Prince William County, Virginia’s Immigration Debate. Communication Quarterly 60, no. 5 (2012): 624-648.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “Legislating a ‘Normal Classic Family’: The Rhetorical Construction of Families in American Welfare Policy.” Political Communication 20, no. 4 (October-December 2003): 473-98.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. “The Rhetorical Limits of Satire: An Analysis of James Finn Garner’s Politically Correct Bedtime Stories.” The Quarterly Journal of Speech 89, no. 2 (May 2003): 132-53.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “‘Are We Going to Now Govern by Anecdote?’: Rhetorical Constructions of Welfare Recipients in the Congressional Hearings, Debates, and Legislation, 1992–1996.” Quarterly Journal of Speech (November 2001): 341–65. (Lead Article).

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Diane M. Blair. “Best-Selling Feminisms: The Rhetorical Production of Popular Press Feminists’ Romantic Quest.” Communication Quarterly (Fall 2000): 360–79.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “Writing Themselves Into Consciousness: Creating A Rhetorical Bridge Between the Public and Private Spheres.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 41–61.

Media

• Moderator, Press and Politics Panel at the National Press Club for the �鶹��Ƶ Washington Journalism and Media Conference. 12 July and 18 July 2016.

Awards

• John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching (2024)
• Dean's Teaching Faculty Fellow (2024-2025)
• Online Teaching Award of Distinction (2024)
• Eastern Communication Association Distinguished Teaching Fellow Award (2023)
• Eastern Communication Association Distinguished Research Fellow Award (2022)
• �鶹��Ƶ Alumni Association Faculty of the Year Award (2019)
• OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award (2017)
• �鶹��Ƶ Teaching Excellence Award (2005)

Media Clippings

• August 21, 2025 - Authority Magazine
  
• November 25, 2024 - The Washington Examiner 
  
• November 1, 2022 - Inside Nova
  
• October 21, 2022 - Fairfax County Times
  
• June 6, 2022 - Global Focus
  
• May 19, 2022 - Connection 
  

Courses Taught

• BUS 100: Business and Society
• BUS 103: Developing Your Professional Skills—Foundational Elements
• BUS 303: Advanced Professional Skills
• COMM 300: Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
• COMM 327: Political Communication
• HNRS 110: Principles of Inquiry and Research
• HNRS 240/260: Social Movements and Social Change—The Early Woman’s Rights Movement
• HNRS 360: Social Movements, Persuasion and Civic Engagement