A native of Virginia and Army veteran, Dr. Hicks has worked in higher education for 20 plus years. As a Department of Defense (Air Force) civilian educator, Dr. Hicks served as Guidance Counselor, Supervisory Education Specialist, and finally in the top level executive position at the military installation level—Chief of Education and Training. In her Air Force roles, Dr. Hicks served as Test Control Officer, community college field registrar, compliance manager, oversight manager for five on-base colleges/universities, regulatory expert, Department of Veterans Affairs certifying official, along with senior-level advisor for joint service education and training programs. Dr. Hicks’ Air Force career included positions in Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and Germany.
After retiring from the Department of Defense, Dr. Hicks served as adjunct and full-time faculty at private and public colleges/universities as well as in Director of Education positions for private career colleges. She served briefly as the Interim Campus Director for Southwest College and as Manager of Online/Hybrid Learning at Southern Technical College. During her most recent position, Dr. Hicks served as the Associate Dean and Dean of Academic Affairs at Everglades University’s Online Division.
She is very passionate about online learning success, strategic learning, and learning analytics in higher education. Periodically, Dr. Hicks serves in contracted advisory and online support roles for Florida-based career colleges. In addition to teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Dr. Hicks teaches distance education courses in the graduate school for a major university with campuses located in the northeastern United States, Europe, and Asia. In her role as associate lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Dr. Hicks teaches the Collaborative Communities course for the E-Learning/Online Teaching certificate and Master of Education program.
Teaching Interests: Academic success and professional development; foundations of education; career development; career/technical education; universal design; online strategic learning.
Professional Interests: Dr. Hicks is interested in serving in roles that include institutional program standards, evaluation, and assessment for credentialing and accreditation. Immediate interests include online course development that orient/onboard new students and faculty.