- Date Of Birth: November 18, 1932
- Date Of Death: April 7, 2021
- State: Indiana
Janice Lauer Rice died on April 7, 2021, at University Place, where she resided since 2008. She is survived by her beloved husband John R. Rice, her niece, Erica Tierney, (husband John) and nephews, John and Brad Tierney and grand-nephew Hunter Tierney; her stepsons, David Hutton (wife Sherry), Cameron Hutton (wife Ellen) and Dan Hutton (wife Dena) and granddaughters, Jillian, Savannah, Anna Kate, Megan, Claire, Sydney, Sophia, Avery and Mia.
Janice was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1932, adopted by loving parents the late Vincent and Viola Lauer and raised with younger sister, Carolann Tierney. She attended St. Matthew’s Grade School, Dominican High School and Marygrove College. She spent several years as a member of the IHM Community receiving her master’s degree in English from St. Louis University and her doctorate in English from the University of Michigan. After teaching in Detroit Public Schools, Marygrove College and the University of Detroit, she moved in 1980 to Purdue University where she founded one of the first doctoral programs in a new field in English, “Rhetoric and Composition.” In 1984, she married David Hutton, who died in 1999. In 2010, she married her second true love, John R. Rice.
During her teaching and scholarly career, she directed the Cranbrook Writers Conference; offered a two-week international summer Rhetoric Seminar for professors for thirteen years; directed and taught in Purdue’s Rhetoric and Composition Graduate Program for 23 years including directing over 57 dissertations. When she retired in 2003, the program had over 200 doctoral graduates. She also wrote books and essays in her field as well as lectured extensively about the writing process as inquiry. A Distinguished Professor at Purdue, she received awards including an “Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters” from St. Edwards University in Austin Texas; the Conference on College of Composition and Communication “Exemplar Award;” Purdue’s School of Liberal Arts “Excellence in Education Award;” a Hopwood Award at the University of Michigan, and the Rhetoric Society of America’s “Distinguished Service Award.”
In retirement, she served as President of the Aquinas Educational Foundation; as Coordinator of the Consortium of Rhetoric and Composition Doctoral Programs; as Executive Committee member of the National Council of Teachers of English; as a member of the Board of Directors of the Rhetoric Society of America; and a volunteer at the Indiana Veterans’ Home.
Janice spent many happy years at University Place with her beloved John, friends and visiting family and wonderful graduate students.
