Leland G. Spencer (PhD, University of Georgia, 2013) is professor and chair in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina. Leland holds a graduate certificate in Women's Studies from UGA (2011), an MA in Communication from the University of Cincinnati (2009), and a BA in Communication Studies from Mount Union College (now known as University of Mount Union, 2007). 

 

Leland's research interests are in feminist rhetoric, gender, sexuality, and gender identity, and religious communication. Leland is the author of Rape, Agency, and Carceral Solutions (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023), coauthor (with Theresa Kulbaga) of Campuses of Consent (University of Massachusetts Press, 2019), author of Women Bishops and Rhetorics of Shalom (Lexington, 2017), and coeditor (with Jamie Capuzza) of Transgender Communication Studies (Lexington, 2015). He has published more than forty peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Text and Performance Quarterly, QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking, Women & Language, and others. 

 

Leland's scholarship has received local and national recognition. Leland holds the Randy Majors Award from the Caucus on LGBTQ Concerns of the National Communication Association (NCA), the Janice Hocker Rushing Award from the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA), and the Gender Scholar of the Year Award from the Gender Studies Division of SSCA. Leland has won several awards for conference presentations and publications from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender as well as different divisions of NCA.