Dr. Rich House teaches English, with expertise in the areas of contemporary American literature, literary theory, and communication for engineers and scientists. He co-wrote The Engineering Communication Manual to help engineering students develop their technical communication skills and is one of the founders of Rose-Hulman's Home for Environmentally Responsible Engineering (HERE) program, a living-learning community for first-year students interested in sustainability and humanitarian engineering. Dr. House co-advises the Alpha Phi Omega service organization, was a two-night champion on Jeopardy, and has been master of ceremony for the Student Activities Board͛s The Price Is Right game-show event.
Academic Degrees
- BA, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1994
- MA, University of California, Irvine, 1996
- PhD, University of California, Irvine, 2000
Awards & Honors
- James Lufkin Award (Best Paper), International Professional Communication Conference, 2014 (Shared with Richard Layton, Jessica Livingston, and Sean Moseley)
Research Experiences
- Engineering communication and professional ethics
- The liberal arts in engineering education
- Sustainability and design
- Shakespeare in film and television
Select Publications & Presentations
- House, R., Layton, R., Livingston, K., and Moseley, S., The Engineering Communication Manual, Oxford University Press, 2016
- House, R., Livingston, J., Summers, S., and Watt, A., “Elevator Pitches, Crowdfunding, and the Rhetorical Politics of Entrepreneurship,” International Professional Communication Conference, Austin, Texas, October 2016
- “The Same Austerity: Populist Protest in Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus,” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, New Orleans, 2015
- House, R., Layton, R., Livingston, J, and Moseley, S., “Engineering Ethos in Environmental Public Policy Deliberation,” International Professional Communication Conference, Pittsburgh, October 2014
- “Contagious Clouds: Repetition, Pastiche, and Identity in Two Films of Shakespeare’s Henriad,” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Chicago, 2014
Teaching Interests
- Technical and professional communication
- American literature
- Shakespeare
- Sustainability