Hickman served as Professor in the Divinity School and Dean of the Chapel until 1953. A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was forced to drop out of high school in his senior year after his father died. He secured a job with the railroad as a caller of trains and continued with the railroad in various jobs until he was 25 years old. He decided to go into the ministry and after two years work in the Northern Indiana Conference of the Methodist church, he accepted his first pastorate in Fremont.

He married Veva Castell in 1913 and entered DePauw University. He graduated in 1917 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and attended the School of Theology at Boston University were he received the Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree and then attended Northwestern University where he received his PhD in 1923. Hickman came to Duke in 1927 after having taught at the Chicago Training School, Hamline University and Emory University. He presided at the formal dedication of the Duke Chapel in 1932 and was organizer of the university church. He was Dean of the Chapel from 1938-1948 and for many years delivered at least half of the weekly Chapel sermons. From 1932 to 1938, he held the title of Preacher to the University at Duke. Later he became the first Professor of Preaching in the Duke Divinity School. He retired in 1953. After retiring, Hickman moved to Angola, Indiana, where he was living at the time of his death. He died November 11, 1965.