Top mass communication teacher in the country: Jinx Coleman Broussard

Top mass communication teacher in the country Jinx Coleman Broussard wins 2018 Scripps Howard Foundation’s Teacher of the Year

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By Leroy Triggs III he has an office filled with awards, family pictures and keepsakes from unforgettable professional moments.

“Sometimes it is hard to believe a girl from the plantation made it this far,” said Dr. Jinx Coleman Broussard, mass communication professor at LSU. The 2018 Scripps Howard Foundation’s Teacher of the Year, Broussard has all of those priceless moments in her office. The Scripps Howard Award goes to the best in mass communication education, and Broussard has been recognized as the best mass communication teacher in the United States.

Broussard, a Vacherie native, grew up on Laurel Ridge Plantation and is a 1967 graduate of Magnolia High School. Her dad worked in the sugarcane fields and grew his own crops.

He would have Broussard and her siblings work in the family garden with him. He had several gardens on the plantation and was able to hire other children to pick beans.

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“I wasn’t a country girl,� Broussard declared. “I did not like to be in the fields picking crops. When I would be out in the fields I would transport myself into a world where I’m interviewing the president, meeting the pope or going to Buckingham Palace.�

By 11, she was reading economics books. Her mother passed away when she was 13, leaving behind six children and a husband.

She went to LSU for her bachelor’s degree in journalism. Her father didn’t drive outside of Vacherie, so in order for her to attend she had to secure a ride with a hometown friend who attended Southern University.

She would also have to get rides back home or catch the Greyhound.

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“I didn’t go home often because me and my friends would study for hours every day,” Broussard said. “I prayed that I wasn’t the only African American in my dormitory and in my class.”

Broussard lived in Evangeline Hall and met her best friend, Cora Miles, in the elevator while going to her dorm. Cora’s friends quickly became friends of Broussard’s.

They made it through LSU with a routine of watching the 5:30 p.m. news on weeknights, heading to the library to study at 6 p.m., taking a snack break at 8 p.m. and going back to their room at 10 p.m. to get rest or study.

With that hard work and dedication, Brossard became the first African American to graduate from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

“The journalism school was very progressive; professors were very welcoming and took an interest in me,” she says.

“In other classes, professors would skip over me. If sat on one row, the other students would get up and go to another row. But I was OK with that because I knew my purpose for being at LSU and that was to get my degree.”

After graduation she went on obtain her master’s and doctorate degrees.

She eventually took a director’s position Dillard University, which at the time, did not offer a journalism major.

“I asked if we could add a journalism class, and they wondered who would teach it. I offered to teach the course for no extra pay,” Broussard said.

Dillard University made the course available and with Broussard’s talent for teaching, journalism grew in popularity. Students she already taught would help her teach other incoming students at Dillard’s grow-

Jinx Broussard is a mass communication professor at Louisiana State University.

ing journalism department. She also taught public relations courses.

Broussard went on to serve as press secretary for New Orleans Mayor Sidney Barthelemy and director of information for the city of New Orleans for eight years.

She always found time to mentor young people.

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Jinx Broussard, a St. James Parish native, was honored as 2018 Scripps Howard Foundation’s Teacher of the Year.

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Broussard never wanted to leave Dillard, but the president at the time told her to bring pride to the school by working for city officials.

In her time as a professional, she has met several U.S Presidents and former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Broussard also helped plan the Republican National Convention in 1988.

Now, Broussard is a professor at LSU. Outside of her teaching, she partners with organizations outside of LSU. She recently has been working with Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency. As a part of her Public Relations Campaigns class, students form agencies with the ones she’s partnered with and develop creative ideas to help the cause.

“I want to bring out a student’s full potential and show them they can do things they didn’t think they were capable of at the beginning of the semester,” said Broussard.

She told a story of how a student came to her at the beginning of a semester concerned about not being able to live up to Brossard’s standards. She would calm the young student down, telling her, “If you stick it through this course, you will be able

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Jinx Broussard speaks at commencement.

Photos provided by LSU Strategic Communications.

to talk the PR talk and walk the PR walk,�

Broussard’s words came true when she heard the young lady on WRKO. She handled the interview so well that Broussard called her after the on-air interview.

Broussard has been recognized this year with The Center of Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership 2018-2019 Service Learning Happy Award, the Public Relations Association of Louisiana Lifetime Achievement Award and the Baton Rouge Area of Black Journalist Pioneering Black Journalist Award. “I honestly don’t think about the awards. I think they are a reflection of the passion I have for going the extra mile and making myself necessary and to engage my students in the journey of learning,� she said.

In each part of her life, Broussard’s father has remained. “He always made sure, we were never idle and he pushed me to get an education, and that pushed me through life. I also stress that to my children,� said Broussard.

According to Broussard, her husband, Robert, is the engine that drives her career.

That support from home enables her to be involved with students and community organizations.

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