Background

James Arnt Aune was born on August 17, 1953, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, United States. He was a son of Arnt Aune and Adeline Aune (maiden name Bjerknes).

Education

James Arnt Aune attended Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls. Speech competition and theatre were among his hobbies while there.

Aune received a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude at St. Olaf College, Northfield in 1975. Two years later, he obtained a Master of Arts from Northwestern University. It was followed by a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1980.

Career

James Arnt Aune started his career at Tulane University. From 1981 to 1986, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Then, he occupied the same post at St. Olaf College, Northfield which he left in 1994 in the capacity of an associate professor.

That same year, Aune became an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul where he worked till 1996 when he was invited to the Department of Communication of Texas A&M University. He headed the Department from 2011.

From 2004 to 2007, James Aune served on the Board of Directors of the Rhetoric Society of America.

Achievements

• 

  A prolific and inventive scholar, James Arnt Aune is also remembered as a committed educator.
  
  In addition to a couple of comprehensive books on rhetoric, he wrote a great number of essays on the subject that were featured in The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Philosophy & Rhetoric, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and other popular periodicals.
  
  Aune was a recipient of the National Communication Association’s Distinguished Scholar Award, Diamond Anniversary Book Award, and the "Teachers on Teaching" Outstanding Educator Award.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness

    (The author examines how the rhetoric of the free market h...)

    2001
  • Rhetoric and Marxism

    (The first extended study about the relationship between M...)

    1994

Membership

James Arnt Aune was a member of the National Communication Association, the Rhetoric Society of America and the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Personality

James Arnt Aune didn't like to boast of his academic achievements and positioned himself more as a student than as an accomplished scholar.

An intelligent person, he was a good interlocutor in both public and private debates. Aune’s relatives, friends, and colleagues appreciated his sociability, compassion, and wittiness.

Interests

• cooking, reading, poetry

Connections

James Arnt Aune married Miriam Piccirillo on December 22, 1986. The family produced two children named Nicola and Daniel.

Father:

Arnt Aune

Mother:

Adeline Aune

Wife:

Miriam Piccirillo

Son:

Nicola Aune

Son:

Daniel Aune

Brother:

Michael Aune

Brother:

John Aune