Vera Hawkins

Vera Hawkins, PhD, serves as the Interim Chair and Associate Professor at Texas Southern University, where responsibilities include nurturing and instructing undergraduate and graduate students in journalism, mass communication, and media. With a rich academic background, Vera's previous roles include Postdoctoral Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where research focused on media content evaluation for video games and children's media, and Assistant Professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, directing public relations courses. Additional experience includes visiting professorship at Indiana University Bloomington and various teaching positions at The University of Texas at Austin and Huston-Tillotson University. Vera earned a PhD in Communication from The University of Texas at Austin, a master's degree in Telecommunications Management from Ohio University, a bachelor's degree in Drama and Theatre Arts from Tufts University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT in Comparative Media Studies.