Gill Robinson Hickman Professor Curriculum Vitae Richmond Research Institute Profile University Communications Experts Guide Profile

Dr. Hickman's career has involved administrative and academic appointments. Her expertise is in management, with an underpinning of organizational behavior and human resource management. As a member of the faculty of the Jepson School, Dr. Hickman participated in the early structuring and formation of the program, a role for which her background as Dean in the School of Health at California State University, acting associate dean in the School of Community and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University and Professor of Public Administration had prepared her.

In the classroom, she focuses on leading change, leadership in organizations and leadership in a diverse society.

She is engaged in research in several areas including leadership in socially active businesses, invisible leadership and leadership during personal crisis. Her research in the business sector focuses on companies that are meeting the challenge of balancing change, profitability, and social action, and, therefore, can help practitioners and scholars learn more about how “leadership” functions in this business context

In the course of studying how individuals in leadership roles handle personal crisis, Dr. Hickman has interviewed government and business leaders about crises ranging from work-family conflicts to personal illness and the death of a loved one.

She has worked on projects for regional governments in South Africa at the University of the Western Cape, taught at the prestigious Salzburg Seminar in Austria and was a founding partner in a small California retail business. As a consultant in the public and private sector, Dr. Hickman is sought after for her work in organizational leadership and change as well as transforming leadership and human resources management.

She is a board member of the International Leadership Association and member of several other professional, scholarly and community organizations. Dr. Hickman is the recipient of several awards including the University of Richmond Distinguished Educator Award.

Courses and Syllabi

• Foundations of Leadership Studies [Syllabus]
• Leading Change [Syllabus]

Projects

• Conducting research in 30 socially active businesses.
• Writing a book titled, Leading Change in Different Contexts: Connecting Purpose, Theories and Process
• Working on The Power of Invisible Leadership (with Georgia Sorenson). Invisible leadership characterizes situations in which dedication to a powerful purpose is the motivating force for people to take action and, at times, even give up personal needs or safety.

Publications

Books

• Hickman, G.R. & Lee, D. (2001). Managing human resources in public sector: A shared responsibility. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
• Hickman, G.R. (Ed.). (1998). Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Book Chapters

• Hickman, G. R. (2004). Invisible leadership. In J. M. Burns, G. Goethe’s & G. Sorenson (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Hickman, G. R. (2004). Transformistic theory. In J. M. Burns, G. R. Goethals & G. Sorenson (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Hickman, G. R. (2004). Organizations of hope: Leading the way to transformation, social action and profitability. In R. Riggio & S. S. Orr (Eds.). Improving leadership in non-profit organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Sorenson, G. & Hickman, G. R. (2002). Invisible leadership: Acting on behalf of a common purpose. In C. Cherrey & L.R. Matusak (Eds.), Building Leadership Bridges (pp. 7-24). College Park: James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.
• Hickman, G. R. & Creighton-Zollar, A. (2000). Leadership during personal crisis. In B. Kellerman and L. R. Matusak (Eds.), Cutting Edge Leadership 2000 (pp. 59-64). College Park: James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.
• Hickman, G.R. (1998). Leadership and the Social Imperative of Organizations in the 21st Century. In Leading organizations: Perspectives for a new era (pp. 559-571). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Hickman, G.R. (1996). Introduction: Why Teach Leadership? In Learning leadership: A curriculum for a new generation grades k-12 (pp. 7-14). College Park: University of Maryland, Center for Political Leadership and Participation.

Journal Articles

• Hickman, G.R. (2001). Comments from colleagues and past students on the impact, personal and professional, of J.M. Burns. In Bailey & Axelrod, Leadership lesson from Mount Rushmore: an interview with James MacGregor Burns. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(2001), 113-127.
• Hickman, G.R. & Creighton-Zollar, A. (1998). Diverse self-directed work teams: Developing strategic initiatives for 21st century organizations. Public Personnel Management, 27, 187-200.
• Hickman, G.R. & Creighton-Zollar, A. (1997). Teaching leadership for a diverse society: Strategies, challenges, and recommendations. Journal of Leadership Studies, 4(1), 90-106.
• Hickman, G.R. (1994). Practicing what we preach: Modeling leadership in the classroom. Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(4), 135-144.

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