Samuel Gunawan completed his MA in linguistics focusing on language and culture from University of Michigan (1985), then furthered his interest  and expertise in language, text and culture at Macquarie University (1988) and University of Missouri (1989). Completing his doctorate in Literature and Language Education at State University Surabaya (2012) with his dissertation entitled The Power of Persuasive Text-building in Barack Obama’s Presidential Campaign Speeches. On the teaching post at Universitas Andalas  from 1981 to 2001. Since 2001 serving as a Senior Lecturer in the English Department, Faculty of Letters (now Faculty of Humanities and Creative Industries), Petra Christian University, Surabaya. Having served as Professor in rhetoric and communication arts since 2019.