Faculty Feature: Michael Middleton
Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Humanities, Michael Middleton brings together rigorous scholarship, innovative pedagogy, and student-centered leadership. Whether in the classroom, the field, or administrative spaces, Dr. Middleton’s work is driven by a commitment to helping students navigate difference, disagreement, and institutional systems with confidence and care.
Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Middleton’s research spans rhetorical methods, ethnographic and field-based inquiry, and social movements. Across these methods, his work examines how people argue, deliberate, and make meaning together, particularly in contexts where disagreement is present. His scholarship reflects a sustained interest in the everyday practices that shape public discourse and civic life, as well as the pedagogical structures that can support more thoughtful and productive engagement.
Advancing Student Success Through Academic Leadership
In his role as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Middleton works closely with faculty, staff, and students on curriculum development, academic policy, and student success initiatives across undergraduate and graduate programs. He focuses on how institutional policies are created, how they govern student experiences, and how they ultimately affect learning, progress, and outcomes. This work positions him at the intersection of teaching, administration, and advocacy, ensuring that academic structures serve students effectively and transparently.
Debate Across the Curriculum
One of Dr. Middleton’s most impactful recent initiatives is Debate Across the Curriculum, a faculty development and pedagogical program that integrates structured debate into courses across disciplines. Concluding its first pilot during the Fall 2025 semester, the program engaged 20 faculty members across 25 classes and reached more than 1,000 University of Utah students.
Assessment data from the program demonstrate meaningful outcomes. Students reported a greater sense of perceived common ground with those holding opposing views, reduced anticipated stress when interacting with people who think differently, increased comfort engaging across disagreement, and stronger confidence expressing honest thoughts and ideas at the University of Utah. These results highlight how debate, when thoughtfully designed and facilitated, can strengthen classroom learning and campus dialogue alike.
Building on this success, Dr. Middleton is currently leading efforts to secure a $3.3 million Department of Education grant that will expand Debate Across the Curriculum beyond the University of Utah to partner institutions nationwide, extending the program’s reach and impact.
Conflict, Dispute Resolution, and Mediation
Dr. Middleton is also working to expand the Introduction to Conflict/Dispute Resolution and Mediation Certificate, offered in partnership with Continuing Education. This one-semester professional certificate meets the approved training requirements for the Utah Court Roster of Mediators and provides students and professionals with practical skills in negotiation, facilitation, and conflict management. The expansion reflects Dr. Middleton’s broader commitment to applied learning that connects communication theory with real-world practice.
Debate Beyond Campus
Outside of the academic year, Dr. Middleton is guiding efforts to expand the John R. Park Debate Society’s summer Debate Camp to the Utah Asia Campus, expanding access to argumentation education and strengthening international academic connections. He is also set to serve as the local host and a member of the steering committee for the upcoming Alta Argumentation Conference. The conference was founded by the University of Utah in collaboration with the National Communication Association in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His involvement underscores both the university’s historical leadership in argumentation studies and its ongoing role in shaping the field.
Looking Ahead
Across teaching, research, and administration, Dr. Middleton’s work reflects a deep investment in how communication shapes learning, governance, and civic life. From scaling innovative debate pedagogy to strengthening curriculum and policy, his projects continue to influence how students learn to engage thoughtfully with ideas, institutions, and one another at the University of Utah and beyond.