Dr. Robert B. Bookwalter took over as Marshall's NCAA Faculty Representative in the summer of 2002. Dr. Bookwalter is also the Chair of the Faculty Representatives group for the newly configured Conference USA for 2004-05. Bookwalter is a professor of Communications Studies and has been at Marshall since August of 1987.

A native of San Jose, Cal., Bookwalter received his B.A. in Speech Communications from Fresno State University in 1979, his M.A. in Interpersonal Communications from the University of Montana in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Kansas in 1989. His major areas of teaching interest at Marshall include conflict management, interpersonal communication, group decision-making and problem-solving, intercultural communication, leadership and language.

Dr. Bookwalter and his wife, Rebecca (who holds two degrees from Marshall), have two sons, Travis (23) and Ben (12).