George E. Yoos Distinguished Service Award

The George E. Yoos Distinguished Service Award is presented biennially to a member of the Society who has made significant and sustained contributions to RSA and to the field. The award is named in honor of George Yoos, a founding member of RSA, who served as founding editor of the Rhetoric Society Quarterly from 1975-1986 and as Executive Secretary from 1986-1995. Winners of the George E. Yoos Award, which automatically confers the status of Fellow, meet the criteria for Rhetoric Society Fellows and have made particularly notable contributions to the RSA which have improved the organization. 

Selection Committee

In consultation with the RSA President and the Chair of the Committee on Committees and no later than December of the year prior to the award date, the ASC Chair identifies four RSA members to serve on the Fellows & Yoos Award selection committee. 

• The Vice Chair of the Awards Steering Committee will chair the selection committee. 
• The other three members of the committee should reflect the diversity of rhetorical studies with regard to rank, institution type, and identity categories.

ELIGIBILITY

All RSA members are eligible to be nominated for the Yoos Award

REVIEW PROCESS

Nominations are reviewed by the RSA Fellows & Yoos Award selection committee, a sub-committee of the Awards Steering Committee, which recommends winners to the Board for final approval. 

In reviewing nominations for the Yoos Award, the selection committee considers the full extent of the nominee’s contributions to rhetorical studies, including:

• The nominee’s scholarly work

• The nominee’s influence on conversations in rhetorical studies (through publications, lectures, editorial work, and teaching/mentorship),
• The quantity of scholarship the nominee has produced (to be weighed relative to the publishing culture of the institutions at which the nominee has worked), and 
• The content of the scholarship (particularly its role in extending, synthesizing, correcting, and/or re-directing the shape of work in rhetorical studies)
• The nominee’s work for the Society in formal and informal capacities, including service on the Board of Directors, on RSA committees, and in mentorship capacities; leadership for the RSA Institute or individual seminars or workshops; and/or work beyond RSA that has indirect effect on the good of the Society (e.g. leadership in other professional organizations, service on public commissions related to higher education, or organizing work in higher education or rhetorical studies). The selection committee will give this item extra weight for the Yoos Award, looking for sustained and extensive contributions to the governance and practice of the Society.
• The nominee’s contribution to the Society’s IDEA and/or social justice values through scholarship, mentorship, teaching, leadership, and/or service. The selection committee will pay particular attention to the nominee’s work building these values into the structures and practices of the Society itself.
• The nominee’s work to advance the public profile of rhetorical studies (e.g. through teaching, public outreach, community organizing, speaking, or public scholarship)

Deadline for nominations: March 1, 2026

Conflict of Interest for the RSA Fellows & Yoos Award Selection Committees

It is expected that members of the selection committee may have previous working relationships with nominees for RSA Fellows and the Yoos Award. Before beginning deliberation, members of the committee will disclose their potential conflicts of interest and develop a plan for mitigating those conflicts. Any member who feels they cannot fairly evaluate a nominee will abstain from ranking that nominee.

Amended July 2020