Dr. James W. Hikins has joined the UCA faculty as professor and chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Public Relations.
Hikins’ immediate challenge and goal is to facilitate growth, focus, and excellence in the department, especially with regard curriculum, teaching, and engagement activities beyond the campus, he said.
“I also want to see the department expand significantly its research profile, both regionally and nationally, because I believe that good teaching is enhanced when professors are also doing cutting edge research in their particular areas of expertise,” he said. “If we can achieve these goals, then we will be serving the people of Arkansas well, which, after all, is our most important mission.”
Hikins holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Speech Communication from the University of Iowa, and the Ph.D. in communication from the University of Texas at Austin.
Hikins has taught at Tulane University, The Ohio State University, the University of North Dakota, and the College of Wooster. He is co-author of Communication and Knowledge: An Investigation in Rhetorical Epistemology and author of Remarks on the Development of Rhetoric, as well as numerous journal articles on rhetorical theory and criticism. He has also published work on the rhetoric of disaster. Recent editorials on the BP oil disaster by Hikins appear in the Huffington Post and the Houston Chronicle.
“I am both thrilled and honored to have been supported by my faculty and the UCA administration to become chair of the Department of Speech Communication and Public Relations at UCA,” Hikins said. “The short time I have been chair confirms the assessment that prompted me to accept the position, namely, that I have an excellent group of talented and motivated colleagues and that I can contribute to the department’s overall program.”