Dr. Calvin L. Troup

Dr. Calvin L. Troup is the twentieth president of Geneva College, chosen by the Board of Trustees in 2016.

After graduating from Geneva in 1983, Dr. Troup worked as a trend analyst for The Naisbitt Group (owned by John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends), congressional staff aide to Rep. Duncan Hunter, and an executive for the National Association of Life Underwriters in Washington, D.C.

In 1989 Dr. Troup returned to academia, earning a master’s degree (1991) and a Ph.D. (1994) in Speech Communication from the Pennsylvania State University. He served on the faculties of Penn State, University Park, Pennsylvania and Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana before moving to the Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he directed the university’s nationally ranked Rhetoric Ph.D. program.

Dr. Troup’s scholarly interest is the rhetoric and philosophy of St. Augustine, and the rhetoric of technology. His books include Temporality, Eternity, and Wisdom: The Rhetoric of Augustine’s Confessions (Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1999), Augustine for the Philosophers: The Rhetor of Hippo, the Confessions (Baylor University Press, 2014), and The Spoken Word: A Public Speaking Handbook (Geneva College, 2021). Dr. Troup has edited the Journal of Communication and Religion and is a past President of the Religious Communication Association. He is the editor-elect of Explorations in Media Ecology, the international journal of the Media Ecology Association.

Dr. Troup has also published many other written works. He has written some chapters in books including “Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430): Embracing the Practical Wisdom of Incarnate Communication in a Digital World”, “Augustine: Forsaking the Lie”, and Jacques Ellul: Ontological Realism”. Dr. Troup has also written many articles, including an article for the Western Journal of Communication, alongside Christina McDowell Marinchak titled, “Niceness, Flattery, and Deceit” (2017).

Since returning to the Pittsburgh area, Dr. Troup has served on the Geneva College Board of Corporators and Board of Trustees, leading a number of college and board committees. He has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees’ Education Committee for many years.

Dr. Troup and his wife Amy have four daughters, three sons-in-law, and three granddaughters. They are members of Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, where Dr. Troup serves as an elder.

Email: cltroup@geneva.edu