Mel Hanks comes to Fort Hays State University with nearly 4 decades of experience in radio, television, newspapers, and college teaching. He has worked in Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, and Arizona as a television investigative reporter, news director, bureau chief, assignment editor, news producer, assistant news director, and managing editor. He has taught at 4 institutions of higher learning in Missouri and Arkansas, including Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas-Little Rock. He was won many prestigious awards in his media career, including the Emmy, the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, the Silver and Bronze Medallions for Investigative Reporting from the International Film and TV Festival of New York, and numerous Associated Press and United Press International awards. In 1993, he was named Journalist of the Year by the University of Arkansas. Mel has appeared on several national TV shows, including PBS' "Frontline," "Dateline NBC," "The Today Show," "A Current Affair" and "Rivera Live". He was also an in-studio guest on the "Geraldo!" show in 1989. Mel and his wife Debby have 3 grown sons.

Courses taught in INT Department:

INT 140 Introduction to Electronic Media
INT 300 Foundations of Information Networking
INT 342 Campus Radio Station Operations
INT 625 Electronic Broadcast Journalism