Dr. Joseph (Joe) Riggs, professor emeritus, Communication Department, Slippery Rock University, was born in Middlebourne, West Virginia in 1928. Riggs graduated from Alderson Broaddus College in 1952 with a BA in Speech, English and Social Studies. In 1953 he earned a master’s degree in Speech from West Virginia University and in 1962 a PhD in Speech Communication and American History from the University of Illinois. Riggs taught at Slippery Rock University from 1971 to 1989. Before coming to Slippery Rock he taught at Lehigh University, 1953-1954, Glenville State College, 1954-1955, Memphis State University, 1955-1970 and Indiana State University, Terre Haute, 1970.

Michael Osborn, a native of Dothan, Alabama, is professor emeritus at the University of Memphis, retiring in 1995 after thirty years as professor and department chair at the University. He had taught previously at American University and the University of Iowa, where he returned some years later to teach a seminar as the A. Craig Baird Distinguished Visiting Professor. He also served as visiting professor at the Universities of North Carolina, California Davis, New Mexico, and Vanderbilt. He served as president of the Southern States Communication Association and of the National Communication Association, and received the distinguished service awards from both organizations. He also served as chair of the board of Humanities Tennessee, on which he sat for many years as an appointee of the governor.

Source: "Department of Communication." University of Memphis. University of Memphis, 09 01 2013. Web. 10 Sep 2013. /www.memphis.edu/communication/pac2012/speakers_bio/osborn.php>.

William P. MacCracken, about whom "Mr. Mac”: William P. MacCracken, Jr. on Aviation, Law, Optometry is written, was a pioneer in aviation safety and an advocate for the profession of optometry. The book, for which the research for this collection was conducted, is based on hours of interviews by authors Riggs and Osborn with MacCracken’s friends and associates. It chronicles the development of American aviation and the “parallel rise in importance and prestige of optometry” (from the book jacket). MacCracken was a pilot during World War I; he later served as Washington Counsel for the American Optometric Association and was appointed the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics in 1926 by Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce. MacCracken was instrumental in the development of American aviation legislation. He served as the Secretary of the American Bar Association from 1926 to 1936. His pilot’s license was the first issued in the U.S.A.