Monique Kampherm's interdisplinary doctoral research focused on investigating the influence of social media on Canadian political leaders’ debates through the ethotic lens of two ancient rhetorical figures: prosopopoeia, the incorporation of another’s ethos, and ethopoeia, the depiction of another’s ethos. In examining the speech acts of political parties and leaders on social media during the 2015 and 2019 Canadian federal elections, using a theoretical apparatus that was original, yet situated in the rhetorical tradition, she revealed how the ethotic ecology of political campaigns and debates, and their particular deployments, have shifted markedly under the pressures of participatory media.

Monique's doctoral dissertation, Masks and Caricatures: Prosopopoeia, Ethopoeia, and the Effect of Social Media on Canadian Political Leaders’ Debates, is available through the University of Waterloo, UWSpace. Monique's article, "Democratic Prosopopoeia: The Rhetorical Influence of the I-Will-Vote Image Filter on Social Media Profile Pictures During the 2015 Canadian Federal Election," is published in the peer-reviewed journal Rhetor: The Journal of the Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric, vol. 8, 2019, pp. 59-98.

Monique is a finalist for Canada's Governor's General Gold Medal Award (Ph.D.), nominated by the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo, based on the scholarly quality and depth of her dissertation as well as her academic achievements more generally. She is also a recipient of the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (2020-2021), Ontario Graduate Scholarships (2018-2022) and President’s Graduate Scholarships from the University of Waterloo (2018-2022). Monique earned the Independent Graduate Instructor Award for Excellence in Teaching (2021) and the Lea Vogel-Nimmo English Graduate Professionalization Award (2021). Monique was also named the RhetCanada Graduate Paper Prize Winner (2018) by the Canadian Society for the Study of Rhetoric at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Monique has also earned a Certificate in University Teaching (2022) from the Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Waterloo.

Professionally, Monique has worked as a Policy Advisor in the Infrastructure and Realty arm of the Ontario Government. During her studies in England, Monique gained journalistic experience with Sky News Business and BBC Watchdog. Monique has also taught at multiple higher-education institutions as a Sessional Lecturer (UTM), an Instructor (University of Waterloo), Course Director (York University), Partial-Load Professor (Sheridan; Seneca College), and Tutorial Leader/Teaching Assistant (Waterloo; York; Western). These experiences have assisted in shaping her research interests.

Supervisor: Dr. Randy Harris, Professor, English Language and Literature, and The Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo
Internal Member: Dr. Michael MacDonald, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo
Internal Member: Dr. Anna Esselment, Associate Professor, Political Science | Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, University of Waterloo

Internal-External Member: Dr. Robert Danisch, Professor, Communication Arts, University of Waterloo

External Examiner: Dr. David Beard, Professor, Rhetoric, University of Minnesota Duluth