Janice M. Lauer Rice (November 18, 1932 - April 7, 2021) was an American scholar of composition, rhetoric, and linguistics. She was a founding member of the Rhetoric Society of America. She founded one of the first doctoral programs in rhetoric and composition at Purdue University in 1980. The Lauer Series in Rhetoric and Composition from Parlor Press is named in her honor, as well as the Rhetoric Society of America's Janice Lauer Fund for Graduate Student Support (now the Andrea Lunsford Travel Grant) and the Purdue Foundation Janice M. Lauer Dissertation Award.