Kenneth Hawkinson

Hawkinson is a native of Carpentersville, Illinois. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and Master of Arts in speech communication from Western Illinois University, followed by a PhD in speech communication and performance from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. As a Fulbright scholar, Hawkinson taught abroad at the University of Ouagadougou. He also conducted research in African history and folklore.[2]

Hawkinson served as a member of the Illinois National Guard and United States Army. As a field artillery officer and executive officer for a field artillery battery, he was called to active duty as an infantry officer in Germany. He was also a volunteer with the Peace Corps.[3] In 2016, Hawkinson was inducted into the U.S. Army ROTC National Hall of Fame.[4]

Hawkinson was an assistant professor, associate professor, and full professor of communication at Western Illinois University. He later worked as the provost and academic vice president, associate provost, and associate vice president for budget, planning and personnel. Hawkinson was selected as the 12th president of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2015, succeeding F. Javier Cevallos.[5] Under his direction, from 2021 - 2022 Kutztown University was served with 4 federal lawsuits for allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In three of these lawsuits Kenneth Hawkinson, along with other members of his administration, was a named defendant.

On July 25, 2023 in a rare ruling for a civil rights case, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted summary judgment in one of these lawsuits in favor of the plaintiff, Dr. Stephen Oross III, regarding his claims of intentional disability discrimination and failure to accommodate. This indicated that the evidence supporting his claims was strong enough that the judge decided the case himself because no reasonable jury would find otherwise.