Education
Ph. D. Communication Arts & Sciences, 2024.
Pennsylvania State University. University Park, PA.
M. A. Communication Studies, 2015.
Baylor University. Waco, TX.
B. S. Communication Studies, 2012.
Appalachian State University. Boone, NC.
B. A. English, 2012.
Appalachian State University. Boone, NC.
Academic Appointment
Assistant Professor of Humanities & Communication, Fall 2022 - Present. Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott.
Director, Writing & Design Lab, 2025-present.
Instructor of Record:
HU 299/399 (Ancient Greek Rhetoric). Offered during study abroad in Greece, 2025.
HU 145 (Special Topics: Rhetoric of Crisis Communication).
HU 112 (Rhetoric of Social Justice).
COM 122 (Freshman Composition).
Graduate Assistant, Fall 2015 - Present. Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, Pennsylvania State University.
Assistant director of Cas 100, Summer 2019 - Spring 2020.
Instructor of Record:
CAS 101 (Introduction to Human Communication).
CAS 210 (Landmark Speeches in Democracy and Dissent).
CAS 475 (Rhetoric & Public Address).
CAS 138 (Rhetoric and Civic Life).Two semester sequence.
137 (Rhetoric and Civic Life).
Teaching Assistant:
CAS 101 (Introduction to Human Communication).
CAS 311 (Rhetorical Criticism).
CAS 426 (Communication Ethics).
CAS 422 (Contemporary African American Communication).
CAS 100D (Speech Anxiety).
Graduate Assistant, Fall 2013 - Summer 2015. Communication Studies Department, Baylor University.
Research Assistant: Dr. Martin J. Medhurst, Rhetoric & Public Affairs.
Publications
Koons, Caroline. "Listening to the Lomax Archive: The Sonic Rhetorics of African American Folksong in the 1930s, by Jonathan W. Stone." (2024): 118-121. https://doi.org/10.5325/jhistrhetoric.27.1.0118
Caroline C. Koons, "The Rhetorical Legacy of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'" Southern Communication Journal 80 (2015): 211-229.
Invited Lectures
“Expanding the History of Rhetoric: Pedagogical Puzzles and Possibilities,” First Friday Forum, American Society for the History of Rhetoric, April 4, 2025.
“What Do We Mean by the History of Rhetoric?” First Friday Forum, American Society for the History of Rhetoric. February 7, 2025.
“Broadside Ballads: Composing civic harmony between declaration and inauguration” Library of Congress, rare book and special collections division. May 16, 2019.
Membership Coordinator & Steering committee member, American Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2024-2026.
Co-Chair, Teaching Rhetorical History Pedagogy Initiative, American Society for the History of Rhetoric, 2024-present.
National Leadership
E-Prize Grant, Undergraduate Research Institute, mentor and PI. Award for $3891. Ethics in Engineering competition team, 2025.
Student Learning Partner grant, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott. Fall 2024, Spring 2025.
Honorable Mention, American society for the history of rhetoric Top Student paper award, 2021.
Liberal arts teaching and research scholarship, College of the liberal arts, Penn state university, summer 2020.
The Kathryn DeBoer Award for Excellence in teaching by a graduate student, 2019.
Grants, Honors, & Awards
Dissertation Research award, Research and Graduate studies office, College of the Liberal Arts, Penn state University, 2019.
Dissertation Fellow, Center for democratic deliberation, 2018-2019.
Marcus Romero, 2024-2025.
Student learning partner for Values & Ethics class in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 through Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence grant. Worked to revise the HU 330 curriculum for veteran and engineering student experiences.
Chloe Nelson, Kendra Jarrard, and Jade Kane. 2023-2024.
Psychology students working on a collaborative research project on speech apprehension in public speaking classrooms.
Ethics in Engineering Competition, team mentor. 2023-2025.
Konnor Barnes, Alima Bagdat, Michael Tellez, Hamim Vali, 2024-2025.
Marcus Romero, Hannah Willer, Kylee Bennett, Christian Glemauld - 2023-2024.
Emma Lutz, Southern States Communication Association’s Theodore Clevenger Undergraduate Honors Conference, 2021.
Top Paper Panel for “Rhetorical Ethos in Female Social Movement Leaders.” Originally written for our Fall 2020 Public Address course.
Greydon Tomkowitz, Rhetoric society of America, 2022.
Essay accepted for presentation on Lincoln’s religious rhetoric. Paper originally written for our Spring 2021 Landmark Speeches in Democracy and Dissent course.
Student Mentorship
The Black Box Magazine, Content co-editor, design and layout.
Brunches in Barovia podcast. Audio contributor and regular guest.
Creative Works
National Communication Association
Rhetoric Society of America
American Society for the History of Rhetoric
Southern states communication Association
coalition of feminist scholars in the history of rhetoric and composition
Council on Undergraduate Research
Organization Memberships
Presentations
“Access, Affect, and Ethics: the Pros and Cons of AI in Podcasting” roundtable, 2025 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference. Roundtable discussion with Amelia Chesley and Phillipe Chauveau. February 20-23, 2025.
“Best Practices for Accessibility and Media Literacy” roundtable, Humanities Podcast Network (international conference). November 7-9, 2024. Roundtable discussion with Amelia Chesley, Phillipe Chauveau, and Jonathan Adams (United States Military Academy). Roundtable recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brLN_24t7Ik
“Harmonizing Repertoires: Refining the Sound of the Civil Rights Movement, 1959-1964,” 110th National Communication Association Annual Conference. November 20-24, 2024.
“Just a Song: Rhetoric of Authorship and Strategic Copyright of ‘We Shall Overcome’,” Rhetoric Society of America Conference 2024. May 23-26, 2024.
“Recomposing America’s Musical Identity: Philadelphia Concert Halls and Theodore Thomas at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876,” 109th National Communication Association Annual Conference. November 16-19, 2023.
“Teaching Style in the Public Speaking Classroom: Shakespeare, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and One Direction in Translation,” 109th National Communication Association Annual Conference. November 16-19, 2023.
“Recomposing America’s Musical Identity: Philadelphia Concert Halls and Theodore Thomas at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876,” 109th National Communication Association Annual Conference. November 16-19, 2023.
“Freedom Rider Voice: Musical Disruption in Hinds County Jail and Parchman Prison, 1961” 108th National Communication Association Conference. November 17-20th, 2022.
“Singing Against the Silence: Prison Hospitality and the 1961 Freedom Rider Sonic Archive” 106th National Communication Association Annual Conference. Virtual Event. November 19-22, 2020.
"Sonified Space: Sublime Listening and Gravitational Waves," Symposium on Sound, Rhetoric and Writing. Nashville, TN, September 7-8, 2018.
"A Rhetorical Harmonia: Pythagoras, Aristotle, and the Pythagorean Women in Ancient Civic Rhetoric," 18th Biennial Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Minneapolis, MN, May 30-June 2, 2018.
“Sonified Outer Space: ‘Hearing’ and Composing Interstellar Rhetoric,” 103rd National Communication Association Annual Conference. Dallas, TX, November 16-18, 2017. Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine.
“The Sweet Strains of Persuasion,” Michele Kennerly and Caroline Koons, 103rd National Communication Association Annual Conference. Dallas, TX, November 16-18, 2017. American Society for the History of Rhetoric.
“Silence Unbraiding the Senses,” 103rd National Communication Association Annual Conference. Dallas, TX, November 16-18, 2017. Critical and Cultural Studies Division.
“’Solidarity Forever’: The Ego-Function of Performance in Labor Movement Songs,” 102nd National Communication Association Annual Conference. Philadelphia, PA, November 10-13, 2016. Political Communication Division, Competitive Paper.
“Changing the Music of Temperance Women,” 17th Biennial Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Atlanta, GA, May 26-29, 2016.
“Appeal to the People: Constraining Audience in Johnson’s ‘We Shall Overcome’ Address” 86th Southern State Communication Association Annual Convention. Austin, TX, April 6-10, 2016. Rhetoric and Public Address Division.
“Support and Dissent: ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ parodies through American Wars,” 101st National Communication Association Conference. Las Vegas, NV. November 19-22, 2015. Political Communication Division.
“Bloodlines and Homelands: The Anti-Colonization Advocacy of Charles Lenox Remond,” 100th National Communication Association Conference. Chicago, IL, November 20-24, 2014. African American Communication and Culture Division, Top Papers Panel.