Lisa M. Gring-Pemble

Lisa Gring-Pemble, an associate professor at George Mason University, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College. She received her MA and PhD 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) and social and global impact. She is author of Grim Fairy Tales: The Rhetorical Construction of American Welfare Policy, Your Daughters Will Prophesy: Religion and Rhetoric in the 19th-Century Woman’s Movement (co-authored with Martha Watson) 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, 2024 John Toups Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, and was one of the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning 2024 Online Teacher of Distinction winners.  She is committed to sustainability initiatives at Mason and around the globe in her capacity as co-founder of the Honey Bee Initiative, Founding Co-Executive Director of the Business for a Better World Center, advisory council member of the Institute for a Sustainable Earth, and faculty affiliate of the Virginia Climate Center. She currently serves as Academic Director for the College of Public Health's Learning Laboratory and in that capacity works with community members, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations and undergraduate and graduate students to investigate and address community-identified health challenges in Northern Virginia.

Research Interests

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

Education

PhD 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”

MA Communication, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 1996.

BA, 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

• Gring-Pemble, Lisa M., and Martha Solomon Watson. Your Daughters Will Prophesy: Religion and Rhetoric in the Nineteenth-Century Woman's Movement. University of South Carolina Press, 2025.
• Sheckels, Ted, Janette K. Muir, Terry Robertson, and Lisa M. Gring-Pemble. Readings on Political Communication. State College, PA: Strata Publishers, 2007.
• Gring-Pemble, Lisa M. 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)

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.

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

• August 21, 2025 - Authority Magazine
  Lisa Gring-Pemble of George Mason University On How We Can Increase Women’s Engagement in Leadership and Management
• 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