Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Administration, Supervision and Higher Education Alvin Ray Hooks (April 2, 1929-) is married to Carol Jeane Hooks. The couple has two children, Terri and Jeff. Hooks received his high school education at Rocky Mount High School, Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He played football, basketball, and baseball during each of his high school years - 1944 to 1948. Hooks was also an Eagle Scout, receiving the Order of the Arrow, and he was a member of the honor society. After graduating from high school, Hooks attended Appalachian State Teachers' College (now Appalachian State University) where he earned a B.S. degree, cum laude (1952), in physical education, with a minor in mathematics. While at Appalachian State, he was again involved in sports-playing football for four years, basketball for three years, and baseball for four years. Hooks was also a student council member for two years, was president of the Monogram Club, and was included in Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges for two years. Hooks remained at Appalachian State to work on his M.A. degree in education, which he received in 1953. He then studied school administration at Duke University during the summers of 1961 to 1966. Hooks was selected from over four hundred applicants for a Mott Fellowship to attend the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in school administration in 1967. Hooks' doctoral dissertation was entitled "A Study of the Relationship Between Collective Negotiations and the Activities of the Secondary School Principal." Dr. Hooks taught high school mathematics and coached football and basketball for five years. He then served as an elementary school principal in Burlington, North Carolina, for four years and, for three years, was a junior high principal in Burlington and Gastonia (North Carolina). After two years as associate superintendent of the Hickory, North Carolina, city schools, Dr. Hooks came to Appalachian State University, where he was a professor of school administration for fourteen years. During his university tenure, he was chair of the Department of Leadership and Higher Education for three years. Hooks was inducted into the Appalachian State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1980. Since his retirement from Appalachian State, he has been a professor of school administration at Winthrop College, Rock Hill, South Carolina. Dr. Hooks held membership in the following professional organizations: Phi Delta Kappa, American Association of School Administrators, Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, National Association of Secondary School Principals, and North Carolina Association of School Administrators. He was the first executive director of the latter association. In addition to his professional membership, Hooks served on numerous Southern Association evaluation teams of schools in Alamance, Ashe, Burke, Caldwell, Mecklenburg, and Surry counties. During his professional career, Hooks also did consulting work, conducting seminars on individualized instruction and learning centers for teachers in Avery, Caldwell, Catawba, Mecklenburg, Surry, and Wilkes counties. Dr. Hooks directed, as well, leadership workshops for administrators on the following topics: conflict management, motivation, stress management, time management, and leadership styles. Besides these workshops, he conducted numerous workshops on leadership in public education for boards of education and administrators. Dr. Hooks and his wife live in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, where they are members of River Hills Church. He enjoys singing in the church choir, reading fiction, and engaging in athletic activities, such as jogging, tennis, racquetball, and golf. Sources: Long association and personal correspondence. -Dr. Richard D. Howe
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