Former Senator John Breaux to Keynote Manship School Graduation

Former Sen. John Breaux

April 26, 2018

Baton Rouge, LA – Former U.S. Sen. John Breaux will keynote the spring commencement ceremony of the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication on May 12. Sen. Breaux represented Louisiana in Congress for more than three decades and has been actively involved in the Manship School’s public affairs and political communications offerings for nearly a decade, teaching a course last fall.

“Hosting a prestigious Louisiana political icon for our graduation underscores the kind of unparalleled access to top professionals that Manship School students have,” Jerry Ceppos, dean of the Manship School, said. “As we celebrate our students’ success and achievements during our spring commencement, we are thrilled that Sen. Breaux has agreed to share some of his life lessons with our graduates and their loved ones.”

Since 2010, the annual John Breaux Symposium, hosted by the Manship School’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, has brought together scholars, journalists, corporate executives, and political and civic leaders to discuss democracy and its role in media, politics, and public policy. Breaux taught a senior-level academic course in 2017 called “How Washington Works” to both undergraduate and graduate students in the Manship School’s political communication concentration. 

A native of Crowley, Breaux served as a United States representative from 1972 to 1987 – the youngest member of Congress at the time – and then as a United States Senator from 1987 until 2005. He was elected by Senate Democrats as deputy majority whip in 1993 and held the position until his retirement from public office in 2005. Sen. Breaux was a champion of bipartisan efforts, founding a bipartisan caucus, and served as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. He has remained active in politics and currently works as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

Breaux is a graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana, Lafayette) and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU. His papers are in the LSU Libraries’ special collection.

The Manship School graduation is slated for May 12 at 10:00 a.m. in LSU’s Carl Maddox Fieldhouse. Click here for directions. The ceremony is open to the public.

Contact smalin@lsu.edu for more information.

 ####

LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication teaches and conducts research at the intersection of media and public affairs. The Manship School ranks “among the strongest collegiate communication programs in the country,” according to an outside accrediting agency. It offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, political communication, digital advertising, and public relations, along with four graduate degree programs: master of mass communication, Ph.D. in media and public affairs, certificate of strategic communication, and dual MMC/law degree. The Manship School boasts four distinctive centers and labs:

  • The Media Effects Lab, a research and teaching facility dedicated to the exploration of how media consumers emotionally and cognitively process media content and formats.
  • The Social Media Analysis and Creation Lab, a tool focused on social media to track, analyze and create content and academic research, featuring cutting-edge moveable t-walls, a touch screen control table, and screen walls. 
  • The Public Policy Research Lab, a research center dedicated to high quality, state-of-the-art data collection and analytics, with a special emphasis on survey research.
  • The Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, a tool used help solve practical problems and advance good government initiatives.

LSU Manship School of Mass Communication
Louisiana State University
Journalism Building
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
(225) 578-1899
masscomm@lsu.edu 

 

LSU