Dr. Jamia Hines Davis: Cultivator of Tomorrow’s Leaders

Guided by her own transformation, Dr. Jamia Hines Davis, RBC Instructor of Communication, helps students mature into strong public speakers.

By Sterling Giles

 

For nearly a decade, Dr. Jamia Hines Davis has helped students at Richard Bland College (RBC) realize they have the potential to become powerful orators long before they believe it themselves.

Ironically, despite being an instructor of communication, Dr. Hines Davis was once the quiet student in the back of the classroom. Growing up, the Sussex County, Virginia native was reserved and introverted. But she credits her undergraduate experience at Norfolk State University (NSU) with pushing her beyond her comfort zone. Encouraged by her professors to explore the communications field, Dr. Hines Davis immersed herself in radio, news production, photography and public speaking. Over time, her fear of public speaking dissipated and she matured into a bona fide communicator.

Now as a professor, her lived experience informs her teaching philosophy.

“I call public speaking an enlarged conversation,” she explained. “It should still feel authentic.”

For Dr. Hines Davis, communication is not performance—it’s preparation meeting authenticity. Initially, her students enter her classroom anxious and unaccustomed to confidently speaking in front of their peers. Over the course of the semester, she empowers her students to embrace the process it takes to become a strong public speaker.

“It takes strength to stand in front of a crowd,” Dr. Hines Davis said. “I tell my students all the time, ‘You are stronger than you think.’”

By semester’s end, her students are delivering dynamic speeches with confidence.

In addition to receiving her bachelor’s degree from NSU in 2006, the communications professor received her master’s from La Salle College in 2015 and her doctorate from Northcentral University eight years later.

A first-generation college graduate, one of the reasons Dr. Hines Davis pursued higher education was in honor of her late mother, who had a deep reverence for it.

“I could not bring home a C—a C was failing,” Dr. Hines Davis laughed. “Even though I felt like almost pulling my hair out in the midst of my academic journey, I did it all for her.”