Lisa M. Gring-Pemble

Dr. Lisa Gring-Pemble, an associate professor at George Mason University, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication (Rhetoric) from the University of Maryland. Since joining George Mason University in 2000, she has pursued teaching and research in three main areas: 1) rhetorical criticism, argumentation, and persuasion 2) political communication and public policy, and 3) social impact and community-driven development. She is author of Grim Fairy Tales: The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy and co-editor of Readings on Political Communication. Her work has appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Political Communication, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and Communication Quarterly, among others. Gring-Pemble is passionate about teaching and is the recipient of the 2005 George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award, 2017 OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award, 2019 George Mason University Alumni Association Faculty of the Year Award, and 2024 John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching. She is committed to sustainability initiatives at Mason and around the globe in her capacity as co-founder of the George Mason University Honey Bee Initiative, Founding Co-Executive Director of the Business for a Better World Center, and advisory board member of the Virginia Climate Center. Gring-Pemble serves on the advisory board of UndocuMason and is an ardent supporter of DACA, undocumented, and TPS students. Finally, over the past seven years, Gring-Pemble has collaborated with faculty and staff at the College of Public Health in a variety of capacities including serving as a lead mentor for the Learning Laboratory for Population and Social Health, and serving as a co-principal investigator on a variety of grants focused on community-driven development and public health.

Research Interests

• Social impact, innovation, and entrepreneurship
• Rhetorical criticism, argument, persuasion
• Political communication and public policy

Education

Ph.D. Communication (Rhetoric), University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, May 2000.

Dissertation Title: “Constructing ‘Welfare As We Know It’”: A Rhetorical Analysis of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act”

M.A. Communication, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 1996.

B.A., Magna Cum Laude, Political Science and Hispanic Studies; Asian Studies Minor, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, 1992. International Study Abroad: Italy, Spain, Egypt, India, Nepal, Taiwan, Hong Kong, & Japan (1990-1991) Phi Beta Kappa

Research and Awards

Books

• Sheckels, Ted, Janette Kenner Muir, Terry Robertson and Lisa Gring-Pemble.Readings on Political Communication. State College, PA: Strata Publishers, 2007.
• Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. Your Sons and Daughters Will Prophesy: 19th Century Women Claim Their Voice. Under Contract with the University of South Carolina Press.
• Gring-Pemble, Lisa. Grim Fairy Tales:  The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy. Westport, CT:  Praeger Press, 2003. Reviewed in the July 2004 issue of CHOICE, an American Library Association publication.

Articles (Select)

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. Your Daughters Will Prophesy: Religion and Rhetoric in the 19th Century Woman’s Movement. University of South Carolina Press, May 2025.

Lisa Gring-Pemble, Greg Unruh, Efrat Shaked. January 2025. “Implementing a stakeholder capitalism approach through values-based leadership: Case Studies in the Private, Nonprofit, and Educational Sectors.” Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business and Society, vol. 25.1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-03-2023-0110

Gring-Pemble, Lisa. Grim Fairy Tales: The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 2003.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa and Germán Perilla. 2020. "Sustainable Beekeeping, Community Driven-Development, and Tri-Sector Solutions with Impact" Corporate Governance: The international journal of business in society. Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-01-2020-0019

Gring-Pemble, Lisa and Cher Weixia Chen. “Patriarchy Prevails: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis of Equal Pay Discourses”. Women and Language 41, no. 2 (2018): 79-103.

Levasseur, David and Lisa M. Gring-Pemble. “Not All Capitalist Stories are Created Equal: Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital Narrative and the Deep Divide in American Economic Rhetoric.” Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 18, no. 1 (2015): 1-32.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “It’s We the People . . . , Not We The Illegals”: Extremist Rhetoric in Prince William County, Virginia’s Immigration Debate. Communication Quarterly 60, no. 5 (2012): 624-648.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “Legislating a ‘Normal Classic Family’: The Rhetorical Construction of Families in American Welfare Policy.” Political Communication 20, no. 4 (October-December 2003): 473-98.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Martha Solomon Watson. “The Rhetorical Limits of Satire: An Analysis of James Finn Garner’s Politically Correct Bedtime Stories.” The Quarterly Journal of Speech 89, no. 2 (May 2003): 132-53.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “‘Are We Going to Now Govern by Anecdote?’: Rhetorical Constructions of Welfare Recipients in the Congressional Hearings, Debates, and Legislation, 1992–1996.” Quarterly Journal of Speech (November 2001): 341–65. (Lead Article).

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. and Diane M. Blair. “Best-Selling Feminisms: The Rhetorical Production of Popular Press Feminists’ Romantic Quest.” Communication Quarterly (Fall 2000): 360–79.

Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. “Writing Themselves Into Consciousness: Creating A Rhetorical Bridge Between the Public and Private Spheres.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 84 (1998): 41–61.

Media

• Moderator, Press and Politics Panel at the National Press Club for the George Mason University Washington Journalism and Media Conference. 12 July and 18 July 2016.

Awards

• John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching (2024)
• Dean's Teaching Faculty Fellow (2024-2025)
• Online Teaching Award of Distinction (2024)
• Eastern Communication Association Distinguished Teaching Fellow Award (2023)
• Eastern Communication Association Distinguished Research Fellow Award (2022)
• George Mason University Alumni Association Faculty of the Year Award (2019)
• OSCAR Mentoring Excellence Award (2017)
• George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award (2005)

Media Clippings

• November 25, 2024 - The Washington Examiner 
  ‘Shell-shocked’ Democrats struggle to mount a resistance to Trump
• November 1, 2022 - Inside Nova
  Students learn about the importance of honey bees thanks to George Mason partnership 
• October 21, 2022 - Fairfax County Times
  Students get immersive experience with honey bees 
• June 6, 2022 - Global Focus
  People, Planet and Prosperity Depend on the Health of Pollinators like the Humble Honey Bee
• May 19, 2022 - Connection 
  George Mason Brings Bee Studies to Laurel Hill Park

Courses Taught

• BUS 100: Business and Society
• BUS 103: Developing Your Professional Skills—Foundational Elements
• BUS 303: Advanced Professional Skills
• COMM 300: Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
• COMM 327: Political Communication
• HNRS 110: Principles of Inquiry and Research
• HNRS 240/260: Social Movements and Social Change—The Early Woman’s Rights Movement
• HNRS 360: Social Movements, Persuasion and Civic Engagement