Dr. Rich House teaches English, with expertise in the areas of contemporary American literature, literary theory, and communication for engineers and scientists. He co-wrote The Engineering Communication Manual to help engineering students develop their technical communication skills and is one of the founders of Rose-Hulman's Home for Environmentally Responsible Engineering (HERE) program, a living-learning community for first-year students interested in sustainability and humanitarian engineering. Dr. House co-advises the Alpha Phi Omega service organization, was a two-night champion on Jeopardy, and has been master of ceremony for the Student Activities Board͛s The Price Is Right game-show event.

Academic Degrees

  • BA, Illinois Wesleyan University, 1994
  • MA, University of California, Irvine, 1996
  • PhD, University of California, Irvine, 2000

Awards & Honors

  • James Lufkin Award (Best Paper), International Professional Communication Conference, 2014 (Shared with Richard Layton, Jessica Livingston, and Sean Moseley)

Research Experiences

  • Engineering communication and professional ethics
  • The liberal arts in engineering education
  • Sustainability and design
  • Shakespeare in film and television

Select Publications & Presentations

  • House, R., Layton, R., Livingston, K., and Moseley, S., The Engineering Communication Manual, Oxford University Press, 2016
  • House, R., Livingston, J., Summers, S., and Watt, A., “Elevator Pitches, Crowdfunding, and the Rhetorical Politics of Entrepreneurship,” International Professional Communication Conference, Austin, Texas, October 2016
  • “The Same Austerity: Populist Protest in Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus,” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, New Orleans, 2015  
  • House, R., Layton, R., Livingston, J, and Moseley, S., “Engineering Ethos in Environmental Public Policy Deliberation,” International Professional Communication Conference, Pittsburgh, October 2014
  • “Contagious Clouds: Repetition, Pastiche, and Identity in Two Films of Shakespeare’s Henriad,” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Chicago, 2014

Teaching Interests

  • Technical and professional communication
  • American literature
  • Shakespeare
  • Sustainability
Launch Root Quad