M.S., Columbia University GSJ
B.S., Journalism, Long Island University

Dawkins is author of “City Son: Andrew W. Cooper's Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn,” University Press of Mississippi, 2012; “Black Journalists: The NABJ Story,” August Press, 1997, and “Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream,” 2003, August Press. He was co-editor of “Black Voices in Commentary: The Trotter Group,” published in 2006 by August Press.

Dawkins' daily journalism career began in 1980 at Gannett Newspapers in Westchester, New York., and continued at the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Post-Tribune of Gary, Indiana, and the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia. He served as managing editor/news for BlackAmericaWeb.com. In 2020, Dawkins completed a biography of immigration reform and civil rights legislator Emanuel Celler for University Press of Mississippi. Dawkins’ next project is a dual biography of sports journalists Sam Lacy [Baltimore Afro-American] and Wendell Smith [Pittsburgh Courier].

He is editor-in-chief of the Morgan State Promethean yearbook and serves as a judge of the James Aronson Social Justice Journalism Awards.

Dawkins' previous appointment was at Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications where in 12 years he arrived as an assistant professor, was promoted to first associate professor in the history of the school and became the first faculty member of that unit to earn rank of full professor of professional practice.

Dawkins was named 2021 Barry Bingham Sr. Fellowship Award winner by the News Leaders Association and 2016 Educator of the Year by the American Journalism Historians Association. That year he received the Dean's Medal for Public Service from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

In 2015, he received the Hampton University Provost's Award for Academic Excellence. In 2011, he received the Hampton University Edward L. Hamm Teaching Excellence Award.

Research Interests:             African-American journalist biographies, 20th century American journalism

Teaching Interests:             American media history, news reporting and writing, news editing