01/13/2013
Dr. Joyce Flocken, a former professor and former chair of the department, passed away in early January. She was 73 years old. Dr. Flocken was not only active in the department, but on campus as well. She was a strong advocate of faculty governance and collegiality. She served in the Academic Senate, chairing the body from 1992-1993. She earned her Ph.D. at U.S.C. in 1969.
As department chair, back when the department was named Speech Communication, she presided over the hiring of such academic stars as Bill Gudykunst, John Reinard, and Stella Ting-Toomey. In 2010, she established the Flocken Family Endowment, which provides scholarships for majors in Human Communication Studies.
Dr. Flocken was dedicated to faculty and students. She taught undergraduate courses such as public speaking, classical rhetoric, and advanced persuasion. She was well-known for writing detailed comments on graduate student papers, using perfect penmanship at all times. She nurtured new faculty members and promoted a sense of equality among faculty. There weren’t senior faculty and junior faculty, only faculty members who had an equal say in curriculum decisions, governance, and allocation of resources. She stood up to more than one dean to champion what she believed were sound pedagogical practices.
