As of July 1, 2009, Oakley will also be the Chair of the Cognitive Science Department. Oakley completed his PhD in English at the University of Maryland at College Park in 1995. His research areas include Cognitive science; cognitive linguistics; linguistic theory; rhetorical theory; and others. Oakley has published extensively, including From Attention to Meaning: Explorations in Semiotics, Linguistics, and Rhetoric (2009); "Conceptual Blending and the Classic Feature Film" (forthcoming); and "Attention and Semiotics" (2008). Website