Public Relations Professional and Scholar Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, Ph.D., Joins LSU's Manship School

August 10, 2019

Baton Rouge, LA – LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication will welcome Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, Ph.D., as an assistant professor in public relations for the fall 2019 semester. Haydel brings a strong background in public relations with more than 25 years of professional experience as a journalist, director of marketing and communications, and senior account executive. Haydel has taught at six universities and has a robust research portfolio that includes work on the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Haydel, who is known in the industry for her outstanding teaching ability, her strong scholarship and her exceptional skills as a practitioner of public relations,” Martin Johnson, dean of the Manship School, said.

Haydel earned her Ph.D. in mass communication and journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, along with two master’s degrees — one in marketing from the University of Wisconsin and one in public affairs reporting from the University of Maryland. She earned her bachelor’s degree in print journalism from Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. Haydel earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) this July.

Haydel has an extensive background in research and scholarship. Her research interests include media’s role in criminal cases, historical influences of the Black College Press, minority first-time voters and social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo. She has spoken at numerous academic conferences and roundtables and was awarded the Robert Lance Memorial Award for the Outstanding Student Paper and the J. William Snorgrass Award for the Outstanding Paper on a Minority Topic by the American Journalism Historians Association for her paper, “From the Fields into the World: How Women at Bennett College Discussed Race, Politics & Community Building in their Student-Run Campus Newspaper from 1931-1939.”

Haydel taught courses in strategic and integrated communications, alternative journalism, crisis communications and converged media writing at Xavier University’s Department of Mass Communication, Delgado Community College, Southern University at New Orleans, University of Southern Mississippi, Tulane University and Dillard University.

Haydel has served as faculty advisor for Xavier’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Haydel also revived the department’s online publication, The Communicator, to allow her students to gain real-world experience in reporting, writing and designing.

Prior to her time in higher education, Haydel worked as a journalist for top publications such as The Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press and the Austin American-Statesman.

Haydel is the recipient of numerous awards by the Public Relations Society of America, New Orleans Chapter for innovative PR campaigns and personal achievement, including the 2018 “One Success Story After Another” Campaign Award of Merit and 2016 Individual Award of Excellence. She is the member of many professional and civic organizations, including the Public Relations Association of Louisiana, National Association of Black Journalists, American Journalism Historian Association and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

For more information, contact smalin@lsu.edu.

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LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication ranks among the strongest collegiate communication programs in the country, with its robust emphasis on media and public affairs. It offers undergraduate degrees in public relations, journalism, political communication, digital advertising and pre-law, 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. Its public relations students were recently ranked the #1 team in the nation, and its digital advertising and student media teams frequently earn national recognition.