Interim Dean

Professor

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Education

• PhD, University of Alabama
• MA, University of Alabama
• BA, Washington State University

Teaching Specialties

• Research Methods
• Mass Communication and Modern Society
• Public Relations
• Ethics

Research Interests

• Transparency
• Trust
• Stakeholder Management
• Public Relations Ethics

Affiliations

• Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications
• Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications
• Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications
• Institute for Public Relations
• Phi Kappa Phi
• Kappa Tau Alpha
• Phi Beta Kappa

Curriculum Vitae

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Biography

Rawlins has served in many different roles at Arkansas State University prior to being appointed as the interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Communication.  He came to A-State in 2012 as the Dean of the College of Communications. In 2015, He served as the interim dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences while concurrently leading the College of Media & Communication.  From 2017-2020, he worked to open the Queretaro Mexico campus of Arkansas State University, where he served as the chief academic officer of the campus. He also served as the inaugural director of the School of Media & Journalism from 2019-2023.

He taught for 12 years at Brigham Young University, where he was Department Chair from 2008-2012.  Before joining the faculty at BYU in 2000, he taught for eight years and earned tenure and promotion at James Madison University.

Rawlins has also served the academy at the national level.  He is a past president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC), has served on the Accrediting Committee of ACEJMC, and been active in the Public Relations Division of AEJMC.  He is an emeritus member of the Institute for Public Relations Commission on Measurement and Evaluation, and currently serves on the board for the International Public Relations Research Conference and on the editorial boards of several journals. 

He has published several articles on public relations ethics, transparency, authenticity, trust and stakeholder management and is the co-author of the textbook “A Primer in Public Relations.”  In 2003 he was recognized by the Institute of Public Relations with the Pathfinder Award.

He is married to Patricia (Trish) Rawlins and has five children and four grandchildren.  When not in the classroom or on campus, he can usually be found playing golf, riding his bicycle or reading historical fiction while grooving to his expanding vinyl collection.