Dr. Randall Capps, founding department head of the Department of Communication and Professor Emeritus, died February 2. He was 85.
In 1962, Dr. Capps started as an instructor in the Department of English. After assisting Dr. Russell Miller with his speech and theatre classes, former Dean of the College, Dr. Raymond Cravens, asked him to stay and teach speech courses as well as manage the forensics program. The partnership with Dr. Miller and Dr. Capps would result in the creation of the first oratory-related majors in WKU history: Speech and Speech and Theatre. Because of his passion for speech and theatre, Dr. Capps founded the Department of Speech and Theatre in 1968. (The Department of Speech and Theatre would later be renamed to the Department of Communication.)
He served as the Department Head for nearly 20 years in three stints between 1968 and 1995 and became the longest-serving head in the department’s history.