showcasing Dillard experts and the launch of a University app followed by serving as a co-leader in the planning and execution of the signature sesquicentennial gala featuring Grammy-award winning artist Patti LaBelle. This fall, Haydel headed back to the Academy. She is now an assistant professor of public relations at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication where she holds the G. Lee Griffin Professorship.

 

Haydel’s storytelling ability is rooted in her time as a newspaper reporter, where she began her career with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, then went on to the Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), The Chicago Tribune, The Detroit News, and Detroit Free Press. She covered many topics including education, crime and business.

 

She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Clark Atlanta University and throughout her professional career, has remained committed to continuous education. Haydel was an inaugural Chips Quinn Scholar, a prestigious program that promotes diversity in the newsroom. She also earned degrees from the University of Maryland-College Park (M.A. in Public Affairs Reporting), University of Wisconsin-Madison (MBA, with a concentration in Marketing) and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg (Ph.D., in Mass Communication and Journalism with a concentration in Public Relations). In each place, Haydel earned coveted academic designations such as the Consortium of Graduate Study in Management Fellowship, the Dr. Gene Wiggins Research Scholarship and USM Graduate Assistant of the Year.

 

In addition, Haydel is a journalism historian whose research focuses on the HBCU student-run press. Specifically, she explores how students at Black colleges used the pages of their student-run newspapers to discuss race, politics and community building during the first half of the twentieth century. Her scholarship has earned awards from the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), a premier group of researchers dedicated to expanding how mass communications has played a pivotal role in society.

 

As an educator, Haydel has taught at Delgado Community College, Southern University at New Orleans, University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane University and Xavier University of Louisiana, where she most recently was an assistant professor in the Communications/Mass Communications departments from 2008 to 2017.

 

In 2016, Haydel was recognized by the New Orleans Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) as a top educator and, in 2017, for leading a team of students to plan and execute an award-winning social media campaign. Then, in 2018, she received an Award of Merit from the chapter for Dillard University’s “One Success Story After Another” campaign, which spotlighted how alumni went on to successful careers after graduation.

 

Haydel is a dedicated member of First Grace United Methodist Church and holds leadership roles in the Children and Youth Ministry and the Staff Parish Relations Committee. Her dedication to youth development is evident in Haydel’s work as the director of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) High School Journalism Program (JSHOP), an annual boot camp that attracts students from across the country and exposes them to careers in the industry. Haydel has been a leader of this program since 2012. She is married with two children.