Biography
After receiving his B.A. in English from King College (now King University) in 2005 and his M.A. from the University of Tennessee in 2008, Professor Hicks spent ten years teaching at the secondary and university levels before enrolling in Baylor University’s Ph.D. program in English. Upon completion of this program in 2024, he joined Calvin’s English department as a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow through the De Vries Institute. He now serves as a Lecturer for Calvin’s English Department and School of Education.
Education
Ph.D.—Baylor University (Waco, TX)
M.A.—University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN)
B.A.—King University (Bristol, TN)
Academic Interests
Modern and contemporary U.S. fiction and poetry
Literature and religion
Ecocriticism and ecotheology
Contemplative pedagogies
Metacognition and writing instruction
Research
“‘The Zany Paraclete’: Seeking the Pentecostal Community in The Crying of Lot 49.” Christianity & Literature, vol. 73, no. 2, 2024, pp. 260-276.
“Reading ‘A Still Moment’ in Everyman’s Stories of Trees, Woods, and the Forest.” Eudora Welty Review, vol. 14, no. 1, 2022, pp. 111-115.
“Getting Hold of a Face: The Tactile and the Visual in Eudora Welty’s ‘Clytie.’” Eudora Welty Review, vol. 13, no. 1, 2021, pp. 217-228.
Academic Presentations
“Refusing Extraction: Embodied and Contemplative Pedagogies in the Age of AI.” Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture: Technology and Human Personhood in the Age of AI, Waco, Texas, February 26-28, 2026.
“Silent Sobs of Healing: Frank X Walker’s ‘Amazin’ Grace’ and the Prophetic Imagination.” Conference on Christianity and Literature Southeastern Regional Conference, Anderson, South Carolina, October 23-25, 2025.
Book review panel member for Deep Reading: Practices to Subvert the Vices of Our Distracted, Hostile, and Consumeristic Age by Rachel B. Griffis et al. The Kuyers Institute/INCHE/De Vries Institute 2024 Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan, October 10-12, 2024.
“‘A Compass and a Keel’: Ecotheological Re-Homing in Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping.” Conference on Christianity and Literature Southwestern Regional Conference, Waco, Texas, September 21-23, 2023.
“Making Space in the Waste: Kenotic Hospitality in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.” Conference on Christianity and Literature Western Regional Conference, La Mirada, California, April 7-9, 2022.
