Phillip K. Tompkins is well known in the field of communication and beyond because of his long and exciting career as professor, researcher, literary critic, and author. After receiving his PhD in organizational communication from Purdue University in 1962, Tompkins was a consultant to NASA working under the legendary Wernher von Braun during the development of the Saturn V (the “moon rocket”). Throughout his career as a professor, he maintained productive research programs at Wayne State University, Kent State University, the University at Albany, Purdue University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has continued this record since his retirement in 1998, producing three books and racking up sixteen years in the trenches as a volunteer at the St. Francis Center, a homeless shelter in Denver, Colorado.