61st Distinguished Faculty Lecture
Watch the Lecture
Watch on YouTube Watch on the RCCD Website
Want to watch it in-person? In addition to the recorded presentation at Moreno Valley College, Dr. Rhyne will present on Tuesday, April 25, at Norco College in the Brenda and William Davis Center for Student Success, Room 217, and on Tuesday, May 16, at Riverside City College in the Bradshaw Building, Hall of Fame.
About the Lecture
Making Arguments Matter: Facing Climate Catastrophe and Teaching College Writing
Credible scientists have been telling the world for over forty years that Earth’s atmosphere has been warming due to the massive increase of greenhouse gases emitted by human technologies and human activities. However, the actions that have been taken over the last few decades have been too slow and too inadequate. It’s now not uncommon to see news headlines that we are at a “point of no return” beyond which Earth may not be able to recover. Given all of the information, the impassioned warnings, and the arguments that we must act decisively and rapidly, why haven’t we changed our behaviors in significant ways?
In this talk, I analyze reports on global warming and arguments about the climate crisis to theorize why more people are not alarmed, and thus more motivated, to make or advocate for impactful changes.
Understanding why some arguments matter—why and how they impact thinking enough to change behavior—is essential to Earth’s future in the context of the climate catastrophe. Why arguments matter is also a crucial question we ask students to face in our college classes. The conclusions I draw about the climate arguments that matter reflect lessons I’ve learned teaching critical reading, critical thinking, and writing for almost thirty years. My hope is that my reflections on why arguments matter will help us improve how we approach teaching critical thinking and argument.
Meet the Lecturer
Jeff Rhyne is professor of English at Moreno Valley College. He earned tenure and rank of associate professor in 2010 and was eventually promoted to full professor in 2017. He currently serves as the chair of the Department of Communications, English & World Languages and the College’s vice president of the District Faculty Association.
Rhyne earned an English degree from Pomona College in 1991, a master’s degree in 1998 and then a Ph.D. 2002 in English from the University of California, Riverside.
Prior to his current roles at Moreno Valley College, Rhyne served in a number of faculty roles such as assistant editor of the 2007 Institutional Self-Study Report In Support of Initial Accreditation; subsequently, he was the lead writer and editor of the 2009 Institutional Self-Study Report in Support of Initial Accreditation; he served as the Writing and Reading Center coordinator and assistant chair of the Communications Department from 2010 to 2016; he also served as Moreno Valley College’s Academic Senate vice president in 2020-21; and finally as the District’s Faculty Association Full-time Faculty representative from 2017 to 2022.
Rhyne has been teaching since 1992 when he started his career as a high school English teacher. He subsequently taught English foreign language in Lithuania and at California State University, Northridge. During his career in post-secondary education, he has taught college composition and a range of American and African American literature courses at UCR, Pomona College, University of Redlands, and Indiana University at South Bend before starting at Moreno Valley College in 2006.
Rhyne has co-edited a collection of essays, Aesthetics in a Multicultural Age (Oxford UP, 2002), and he has authored several minor publications.
Former Distinguished Faculty Lecturers
The Distinguished Faculty Lecture, inaugurated in 1961, is one of the most important functions for faculty, community and students in the Riverside Community College District. Each spring, RCCD's faculty selects one of its own to present this prestigious lecture on a scholarly subject.
1961 Cecil Stalder
1962 Lee Gladden
1963 Thomas M. Johnson
1964 Howard A. Burton
1965 David MacCuish
1966 John R. Horton
1967 Allan O. Kirkpatrick
1968 Keith M. Bailor
1969 Cecil Johnson
1970 Richard C. Schneider
1971 Robert T. Dixon
1972 William Wiley
1973 Ralph Butterfield
1974 Selby Sharp
1975 William Blaker
1976 Norma Barricelli
1977 Samuel D. Huang
1978 Robert Dyer
1979 Fred Thompson
1980 Ruth Lawson
1982 Dina Stallings
1983 Douglas Bond
1984 Charles Walker
1985 Bette Fauth
1986 Dana Wheaton
1987 Al Parker
1988 Della Condon
1989 Dwight Lomayesva
1990 Tony Turner
1991 Ron Yoshino
1992 Ron Pardee
1993 Geoffrey Waring
1994 Jan Schall
1995 Garrett Short
1996 Gilbert Jimenez
1997 Nancy J. Canter
1998 Clarence Romero
1999 Gregory Elder
2000 Patricia Scileppi Krivanek
2002 Dasiea Cavers-Huff
2003 Sharon L. Crasnow
2004 Richard Mahon
2005 Karin Skiba
2006 Kristi J. Woods
2007 Cordell Briggs
2008 Diana MacDougall
2009 Travis Gibbs
2010 Joe Eckstein
2011 Susan Mills
2012 Jose Duran
2013 Alexis Gray
2014 Rhonda Taube
2015 Fabian Biancardi
2016 Jan Muto
2017 Jo Scott-Coe
2018 Ann Pfeifle
2019 Quinton P. Bemiller
2021 Dariush Haghighat