Dr. Shaun Treat

Visiting Professor of Rhetoric

Dr. Shaun Treat, PhD Louisiana State University (2004), joined the UNT faculty in the fall of 2006 but was raised on an Arkansas farm amidst the cool streams and soothing shade of Ozark Mountain foothills.  Receiving his B.A. (1991) and M.A (1994) from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville , and after brief positions in both city government and the corporate sector, Shaun journeyed to the sweltering Louisiana bayou to hone his fascination with Rhetoric and Critical/Cultural Studies at LSU in Baton Rouge .  While earning his Phd at LSU, Shaun’s interests gravitated around mythic culturetypes and fantasy rhetoric in popular culture, more specifically how these archetypal forms are narratively deployed to shape the consciousness, identity, and cultural politics of group memberships.  His dissertation explored the mythic culturetypes and fantasy rhetoric of charismatic leadership within the discourses of populist business gurus like Stephen Covey and Jim Collins, finding their anti-charismatic models actually conformed to a mythic fantasy script constitutive of charisma-prone memberships awaiting the empowering rescue of a uniquely “gifted” superheroic leader.  The self-help empowerment models of these successful business gurus, he concluded, offer their postmodern audiences seductive yet dangerous narrative dramas which unconsciously invite “crypto-charismatic” memberships as a transformational führer-superhero fantasy for grown-ups.

Shaun’s research interests include rhetorical theory and criticism, political communication, cultural and media studies, psychoanalysis, free speech issues, and constitutive rhetorics of postmodern civic identities.  As an active junior scholar, Shaun has numerous publications and convention presentations exploring connections between leadership rhetoric, mythic narrative, political consciousness, and hegemonies of personal identity.  His work has appeared in The Louisiana Communication Journal and twice in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, with chapters forthcoming in two books.  Shaun is currently working to turn his dissertation into a critical-cultural study of charisma within the contemporary Monomyth of the American Superhero.  He has also received recognition and awards for his engaging teaching pedagogy.

In addition to his research and teaching interests, Shaun enjoys spending time traveling, camping, fishing, searching out live music, and exploring the Denton area for cultural and culinary adventure with his two children, Kaitie and Austin.

 Dr. Treat's Vita

Supplemental Teaching Material

Courses Taught