02/05/2015

CSCA Past President Obituary: Jack Kay

As many of you might have heard, beloved CSCA member and former organizational president Jack Kay passed away on January 30, 2015. He was Interim Chancellor, Provost, and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs as well as Professor of Communication at the University of Michigan-Flint.

Prior to his time at the University of Michigan-Flint, Jack had many other administrative posts. In fact, he was well known for his ability to lead and mentor. Jack was also an excellent scholar. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Communication from Wayne State University in 1979, an M.S. in Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 1975, and a B.A. in Speech Communication from Wayne State University in 1974. As that indicates, he was a part of the central states region in so many ways for so many years.

Professor Kay’s work was voluminous, including many journal articles and books. Perhaps his best-known work was Argumentation: Inquiry and Advocacy. He was quite the scholar when it came to understanding the power of language. Some of his most notable work includes scholarship about extremist groups. Particularly, Dr. Kay focused on the communication strategies of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and Neo-Nazi Skinheads. Jack never wavered in his quest to provide honest scholarly insights, even receiving death threats in response to his work.

Professor Kay also made the leap into public scholarship, lending his scholarly findings to a variety of media news programs. He also testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and consulted with law enforcement agencies. His knowledge was also shared with many students. Known as an outstanding mentor,  he served as dissertation advisor to over 40 Ph.D. graduates in his career.

Jack was married to Ruth Kay, the head of Michigan's Debate MIFA league and coach at Detroit Country Day School.