Dr. Anna Marjorie “Amy” Young is originally from Bellevue, Washington where she graduated from Bellevue High School.  She attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, earning a B.A. in Communication Studies.  Upon graduation, she worked for IBM as a Client Representative, managing executive relationships and consulting on technology and business decisions with clients in the public sector in Tennessee.  In 2001, she began the Master’s program in Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, earning her M.A. in 2003.  She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. In Fall, 2007, Amy joined the faculty of Pacific Lutheran University.

Dr. Young’s scholarship pursues questions of rhetorical style, expertise and engagement in the public sphere.  She lies awake at night fretting about the state of our public discourse and uses her scholarship to enable colleagues and students to claim or reclaim their roles as public agents and citizens.  She is a member of the National Communication Association and the Rhetoric Society of America.