Profile

A J. Grant, Ph.D.
University Professor of Organizational Leadership (Communication & Organizational Leadership)
granta@rmu.edu
412-397-6462 phone (M)
412-397-6468 fax
Wheatley Center 228


Educational Background

  • MA, Theology, Wheaton College
  • M. Div., Divinity, McCormick Seminary
  • Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, Northern Illinois University, 1999

Professional Background

  • University Professor of Organizational Leadership (August 2013-Present)
  • Robert Morris University (2007-2012) Department Head, English.
  • Robert Morris University (June 2011-June 2012) Interim Director, D. Sc. in Information Systems and Communications.
  • University Professor of English (May 2011-August 2013).
  • Professor of English Studies and Communications Skills (July 2008-May 2011).
  • Associate Professor of English Studies and Communications Skills (Fall 2003-May 2008).
  • Assistant Professor of Communications (Fall 1997-Spring 2003).
  • Northern Illinois University (1992-1997): Assistant Coordinator of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program at Northern Illinois University (June 1996-May 1997). Writing consultant to the Department of Finance (January 1995-May 1997). Instructor of computer assisted Freshman English sequence (1992-1995).

Area of Expertise/Research

  • A.J. Grant is a University Professor of Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in leadership and communications and leadership and ethics, and has offered a variety of professional workshops on writing and professional communication in corporate settings. Grant's research interests include leadership and the humanities, communication and ethics.

Publications

  • Grant, A.J., & Skovira, R.J. (in press). Technology, culture, leadership, and education: Five orthodoxies. In S. Allen, K. Gower, & D. Allen (Eds.), The handbook of teaching with technology in management, leadership, and business. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishers. 

  • “Does God Lie?: Understanding Dissembling in the Bible.” Paper published in the Informing Sciences Institute Journal special edition on Fake news, Spring 2019. Paper co-authored with Dr. Eli Cohen, founder of the Informing Sciences Institute.

  • “Ethos, Pathos and Logos: Rhetorical Fixes for and Old Problem: Fake News.” Paper published in the Informing Sciences Institute Journal special edition on Fake news, Spring 2019.
  • “Which hero, which story? Rene Descartes and Giambattista Vico on the Humanities and leadership education.” Leadership and the Humanities, 3:1, Spring 2015, 58–72.
  • Leadership Graduate Programs: A Comparative Review and Analysis of Value Propositions.” Journal of Leadership Studies 9:2, 2015. Second author with Dr. Elizabeth Stork (first author) and Lubomir Darmo.

  • “Which Hero, Which Story? Rene Descartes and Giambattista Vico on the Humanities and Leadership Education.” Leadership and the Humanities 2.2, Fall 2014.

  • “Literacy Wars: Revolution and Counter-Revolution at a Small Private University.” International Journal of the Book 10:2, 73-86, 2013. 

    “The New Tech Effect: Analyzing Juror Credibility in Cases Involving Digital Evidence.” Third author with Drs. Gary Davis and Karen Paullet. Journal of Information Systems Applied Research 5:4, October 2012.

  • Focus on the Family: Good and Evil Vampires in the Twilight Saga. Vader, Valdemort and Other Villains: Essays on Evil in Popular Culture. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2011.

    Stories about Books: The Book as Central Artifact in Contemporary Fiction and Non-Fiction. International Journal of the Book 7:2, 116-125.

  • A Rhetoric of Roads: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God as Pastoral. Co-authored with Dr. Connie Ruzich. Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 5:2 (Spring 2004), 16-28.

    The Challenge of Negation in Searches and Queries. Review of Business Information Systems. Co-authored with Valerie Harvey, Jeanne Baugh, Bruce Johnston and Connie Ruzich.

    Equipment Leases-Plain English! Journal of Equipment Lease Financing 21:1 (Spring 2003). The paper received the Article of the Year Award for the article making the greatest contribution to the industry. I was invited to the annual conference to receive an engraved plaque.

    With a Little Help from Their Friends. Co-authored with Dr. Connie Ruzich. The International Journal of Innovative Higher Education 16 (Fall 2002).

    Foundations for Lifelong Learning: The ‘I' in the Ivory Tower. Published in the
    Proceedings for the International Council for Innovation in Higher Education, November 2001.

    Vico and Bultmann on Myth: The Problem with Demythologizing. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 30:4 (Fall 2000), 49-82.

  • Predatory lending and the Devouring of the American Dream. Paper co-authored with Dr. Connie Ruzich. The Journal of American Culture 32:2, Fall 2009.

    Technology and Culture: Five Orthodoxies. Paper co-authored with Dr. Robert Skovira, and published in Issues in Information Systems 9:2, Fall 2008, 205-210.

    Synchronizing Knowledge in Military Decision Making: A Research Approach for Exploring the Effects of Organizational Culture. Paper co-authored with Dr. Larry George and Dr. Robert Skovira, and published in Issues in Information Systems 9:2, Fall 2008, 429-438.

    The Role of Learning Technique on Student performance in CS1 Courses. Paper co-authored with Dr. Stanley Schuyler and Dr. Robert Skovira, and published in Issues in Information Systems 9:2, Fall 2008, 60-67.

    Vampire Fiction. Twenty five page article written for Greenwood Press' Reading in America, a four volume encyclopedia published October 2008.

    Ground Zero as Holy Ground and Prelude to Holy War. Journal of American and Comparative Cultures 28:1, Theme Issue (March 2005), 49-60.

     

Presentations

  • 2019 - Fake News in the Holy Books: Lying and Deception in the Tanach and the NT. Paper presented at the Informing Sciences Institute InSite conference in Jerusalem, 30 June -5 July 2019. Paper co-authored with Dr. Eli Cohen, founder of the Informing Sciences Institute. Ethos, Pathos and Logos: Rhetorical Fixes for and Old Problem: Fake News. Paper presented at the Informing Sciences Institute InSite conference in Jerusalem, 30 June -5 July 2019. Trump Triumphant: Prophet, Priest and King of the New Civil Religion. Paper presented at the 2018 American and Popular Culture Association Conference, in Palm Beach, Florida, 17-20 April 2019.
  • 2018 - Trump Triumphant: Prophet, Priest and King of the New Civil Religion. Paper presented at the 2018 American and Popular Culture Association Conference, in Palm Beach, Florida, 17-20 April 2019. Socrates: The Archetypal Authentic Leader. Paper presented at the 2018 ILA Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, October 2018.
  • 2017 - Trump's Mirror: A Rhetoric of Narcissus. Paper presented at the 2017 American and Popular Culture Association Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, April 2017.
  • 2016 - Socrates: The First Grass Roots Leader in the West. Organized an ILA panel and wrote the paper, but did not attend the October 2016 ILA conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Good Teachers in the Movies: Romantic Heroes All. Organized a panel on Leadership and Popular Culture and presented the paper presented at the 2016 American and Popular Culture Association Conference, Seattle, Washington, April 2016.
  • 2015 - Averroes and Aristotle as Models for Authentic Dialogue. Paper presented at the 2015 International Leadership Association Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 14-17 October 2015. Organized and submitted the panel discussion, which was entitled Convivencia in Spain: Leadership Lessons from the Iberian Peninsula. Aristotle Redivivus: The Works of Aristotle as a Paradigm for Understanding the Critical Place of the Humanities in Leadership Education. Paper presented at the 2015 International Leadership Association Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 14-17 October 2015. Moderated an ILA Leadership Perspectives Webinar with Nathan Harter entitled ?Leader as Subject: Michel Foucault?s Last Lectures? on 12 August 2015.
  • 2014 - Aristotle on Leadership. Paper presented at the 2014 International Leadership Association Conference, San Diego, CA, 30 October-2 November 2014. Organized the panel entitled "Leadership Insights from Antiquity" which included papers on the Tanach, Thucydides, and Hilda of Whitby.
  • 2014 - Teachers in the Movies: Where have all the Leaders Gone? Paper presented at the 2014 American and Popular Culture Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 16-19 April 2014. Aristotle on Leadership. Paper presented at the Fall 2014 International Leadership Association, San Diego, CA, 30 October-2 November.
  • 2013 - Narrating 9/11, Or, Every Picture Tells A Thousand Stories. Paper presented at the Pennsylvania Communication Association Conference, Erie, PA, 17-19 October 2013. Celebrate, Celebrate, Dance to My Music. Paper presented at the Spring PCA/ACA Conference, Washington, D. C., 27-30 March 2013. Created Panel entitled The Limits of Self-Love and chaired session which included papers by Drs. John OBanion, Heather Pinson, and Elizabeth Stork.
  • 2012 - Getting Lucky: Or, What's Luck Got to do with It? Paper presented at the Spring PCA/ACA Conference, Boston, MA, 11-14 March 2012.
  • 2012 - Vico or DesCartes: Alternative Stories in the Age of Reason. Virtual presentation at the Hawaii University International Conference on Arts and Humanities, January 2012.
  • 2011 - Of Smartphones and Not-So-Smart Sexting: Claims about the Role of the Smartphone. RU Sexting with Your Handheld? panel created with Drs. Cara Lapic, Elizabeth Stork, and Jennifer Breese-Vitelli for the Fall 2011 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Mobile, Alabama.
  • 2011 - A Holy War of Words: Ground Zero as Contested Holy Site. Paper presented at the Spring PCA/ACA Conference, San Antonio, TX, 20?23 March 2011.
  • 2010 - There's No Place Like Home: Social Networks, Cyber-Spaces And the Problem of Place. Panel created and chaired at the Fall 2010 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Las Vegas, Nevada. Participants included Drs. Cara Lapic, Elizabeth Stork, and Robert Skovira. Focus on the Family: The
  • 2008 - A Narratival Approach to Ethics. Paper presented at the Spring PCA/ACA Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2008.
  • 2010 - Problem of Evil in Twilght. Paper presented at the Spring PCA/ACA Conference, St. Louis, MO, 31 March-3 April 2010
  • 2009 - Stories about Books: The Book as central Artifact in Contemporary works of Fiction and Non-Fiction. Paper presented at the International Conference of the Book, Edinburgh, Scotland, 15-18 October 2009.
  • 2009 - The Design of a Communications Skills Program: Counterrevolution. Paper presented at the College English Association Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 26 March 2009. Organized the panel, which reviewed the history of the Communications Skills Program at Robert Morris University. Dr. Jay Carson and Dr. John O?Banion were the other presenters.
  • 2008 - Vampires May Suck, But They?re Still Hot. Paper presented at the first annual Creepy Conference on Scary Scholarship, Robert Morris University, 22 October 2008.
  • 2008 - Technology and Culture: Five Orthodoxies. Paper presented at the Fall 2008 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Savannah, Georgia.
  • 2007 - A Dramatistic Approach to Teaching Ethics across the Curriculum. Paper presented at the Fall Society for Ethics across the Curriculum, Dublin, Ireland, November 2007.
  • 2007 - Contemporary Perceptions of the Relationship between Technology and Culture. Paper presented at the Fall 2007 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Vancouver, British Columbia.
  • 2007 - True Lies: Telling the Story of Iwo Jima. Paper presented at the Spring 2007 Popular and American Culture Association Conference in Boston, Massachussettes.
  • 2006 - Beyond the Convergence: Reflections on Crossing Imagined Boundaries. Paper written with Cara Hoehn and Robert Skovira. Presented by Dr. Hoehn at the Fall 2006 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Reno, Nevada.
  • 2006 - Common Spaces: Interpretive Anthropology, Sociology, Information Science, Semiotics and Rhetoric. Paper presented at the Fall 2006 Conference of the International Association of Computers and Information Systems in Reno, Nevada.
  • 2006 - The Fire of Freedom: Apocalyptic Rhetoric in President George W. Bush's Inaugural Addresses. Paper presented at the Spring 2006 Popular and American Culture Association Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • 2006 - Apocalyptic Rhetoric in the Speeches of George W. Bush. Paper presented at the 66th Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Communication Association (Fall 2005), Harrisburg, PA.
  • 2005 - A House Divided: Academic Integrity Survey AU Fall 2003. Paper presented at the Fall 2005 Conference on Academic Integrity in Blacksburg, Virginia. Developed and presented a panel entitled You Just Don't Understand: Faculty and Student Perceptions of Academic Integrity, which involved presentations by Jackie Cramer, current RMU doctoral student and Dr. Stephanie Etter, a former RMU doctoral student, that looked at faculty and student perceptions of academic integrity at three different universities.
  • 2005 - Secrets Divine and Secular: Dan Brown's and Tim LaHaye's Apocalyptic Novels. Paper presented at the Spring 2005 Popular and American Culture Association Conference in San Diego, CA.
  • 2005 - It's Gonna Get Ugly: The Rhetoric of Pre-Trib, Pre-Mil Apocalyptic. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Communication Association, October 14-16, Sewickley, PA. Served as session chair for the Representation in Action session of the conference.
  • 2004 - The Classroom as Carnival and the Teacher as Foolosopher. Paper presented at the Spring 2004 Popular Culture Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
  • 2003 - Partners in Crime: Connecting Text and Street through a Mock Trial. Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English conference in San Francisco, November 2003.
  • 2003 - Valerie M. Harvey, Constance Ruzich, Jeanne M. Baugh, Bruce A. Johnston, and A. J. Grant, The Challenge of Negation in Health Care Searches and Queries, Poster Session, November 11, 2003, at the 2003 Fall Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), Washington, DC.
  • 2003 - Ground Zero as Holy Ground and Impetus for Holy War. Paper presented at the Spring 2003 Popular Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • 2002 - Memory and Identity: Split Voices from the Front. Paper presented at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Toronto, Ontario in March of 2002.
  • 2001 - Foundations for Lifelong Learning: The "I" in the Ivory Tower for a panel entitled Construction Zones for Lifelong Learning at the International Conference for Innovation in Higher Education in Rome, Italy in November of 2001.
  • 2001 - Dollars and Scents: Perfume, Marketing and Metanarrative. Paper presented at the Mid-Atlantic American Culture Association Conference in Albany, New York.
  • 2000 - A Rhetoric of Roads: Zora Neale Hurston?s Use of the Figure of the Road in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Paper presented at the March 2000 Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania College English Association, Altoona, PA. Served as session chair for the American Literature session of the conference.
  • 1999 - Invisible Students, Invisible Teachers: How Our Discourse about Discourse Renders Students and Teachers Invisible. Paper presented at March 1999 Conference on College Composition and Communication, Atlanta, GA.
  • 1998 - Cuentos No Mas? The Postmodern Status of the Metanarrative. Paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 1998, Chicago, IL.
  • 1997 - Which Hero, Which Story? Vico or DesCartes: Alternative Pedagogies in an Age of Reason. Paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 12-15, 1997, Tempe, AZ.
  • 1997 - Making the Most of the S/Cite: the Writing Consultant as Bricoleur. Third National Writing Across the Curriculum Conference, February 6-8, 1997, Charleston, S.C..
  • 1995 - Augustinian Echoes: Shelley's use of Augustine's Topoi in Alastor. 1995 Graduate Conference on Language and Literature. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.
  • 1995 - The Indissolubility of Language, Myth, and Community: Shelley's Defence of Poetry. 1995 Graduate Conference on Language and Literature. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.