Dr. Joseph (Joe) Riggs, professor emeritus, Communication Department, Slippery Rock University, was born in Middlebourne, West Virginia in 1928. He is the son of the late Ora C. and Ida E. Riggs. 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).

During his career, Riggs received numerous honors. In 1970 he was presented with a Distinguished Professor Award at Memphis State University. He was appointed to the Pennsylvania Public Television Network Higher Education Advisory Council, serving from 1975 to 1978. He worked as curator for the Memphis Public Library, the Kasper Monahan Collection at Slippery Rock University and the Manuscript and Oral History Collections for the Southern College of Optometry. Riggs also served on the board of directors of WQED-TV, Pittsburgh from 1972 to 1978.

In addition to his teaching career, Riggs has been involved in a variety of intellectual pursuits and worked in a number of occupations including forest fire fighter (Montana), Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, consultant and interviewer for radio and television productions, athletic coach, debate coach, playwright, civil rights activist (Memphis, Tennessee), author and editor. (See folder 1, Joseph H. Riggs Chronology)

Since his retirement from Slippery Rock University Riggs has been active in the Slippery Rock Heritage Association, conducting oral history interviews. The publication The Way We Were: Oral Histories from Northwestern Butler County, collected by Joe Riggs and edited by Kenneth Harris & Jerilyn McDowell, includes some of those interviews. Riggs and his wife Virginia (Donegia) Riggs have four sons: Martin, Jeffrey, Douglas, and Phillip.

William P. MacCracken, about whom Riggs and Michael Osborn wrote "Mr. Mac”: William P. MacCracken, Jr. on Aviation, Law, Optometry, served as Washington Counsel for the American Optometric Association and was appointed the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics by President Herbert Hoover in 1926.

Other key figures on vision care include the hugely influential Irvin Max Borish (Indiana University), Harold Kohn (former General Counsel, American Optometric Association), E.H. Kiekenapp (former Secretary, American Optometric Association), Glenn Fry (Ohio State University), Arthur Bennett (senior lecturer, School of Optometry, London City University), Fergus Campbell (Cambridge University), Michel Millidot (School of Optometry at the University of Wales in Cardiff), A.M. Skeffington (former Director of the Optometric Extension Program) and Michael Heiberger (Director of International Programs, SUNY College of Optometry).

Edward Hull Crump, the focus of The Once and Always Mr.Crump, dominated politics in Tennessee during the first half of the 20th century. Riggs served as a consultant and interviewer for this TV documentary.