Southeastern assistant professor selected as Faculty Champion

Southeastern Louisiana University Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies Chelsea Slack has been selected as a 2026 Faculty Champion by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding student-powered reporting to strengthen local news coverage.

The national fellowship recognizes faculty leaders working to expand student-powered community reporting. Through the program, Slack will spearhead an initiative to bring introductory communication and media studies classes into closer collaboration with Southeastern’s Office of Student Publications. It will connect students in introductory writing courses directly with the university’s student-run media outlets, including The Lion’s Roar student newspaper, Le Souvenir yearbook and the Manestream podcast.

Slack emphasized the honor reflects the continued commitment between Communication and Media Studies and Student Publications to strengthen student-run journalism opportunities at Southeastern.

“Student-led local news and a drive to always improve our coverage are central to the work being done within Student Publications,” Slack said. “Our number one priority is to be essential to our readers and to all of Southeastern’s stakeholders across the community.”

This spring, Slack is partnering with Writing for Mass Media instructor Rissa Simmons to create an expedited publication pipeline that connects students directly with The Lion’s Roar editorial board.

“Students’ articles from our class [writing for mass media] getting their work published with The Lion’s Roar will be super exciting,” Simmons said. “This will help students learn to edit their articles and improve their writing. This will positively grow their resume, as they can show work that has been published.”

The initiative builds upon the strength and dedication of the current Student Publications staff, including The Lion’s Roar Editor-in-Chief Kennith Woods, who plays a key role in maintaining a trusted campus news source. While the Office of Student Publications operates separately from the Department of Communication and Media Studies, the initiative is designed to strengthen the connection between classroom instruction and the university’s student-run media outlets.

“Our publications keep students informed; students, especially at Southeastern, are from areas where reliable, objective news is becoming scarce,” Woods said. “We step in and fill such a void through dedicated reporting, leading our students to success that better serves the university overall.”

The program is designed to create a direct, practical pipeline that connects the Department of Communication and Media Studies’ curriculum to the hands-on opportunities offered by Southeastern’s student-run publications.

Director of Student Publications Lorraine Peppo emphasized the critical role student-run media plays in the campus community.

“Student-run media outlets are very important because they allow students to have a voice, not just those who work in Student Publications, but for all students, faculty and staff. It’s an important forum to be able to continue the mission of universities as well as all the departments within them,” Peppo said.

Communication and Media Studies Professor Joe Burns also highlighted how the initiative will prepare students for careers in the media industry.

“This program is essential to students because when you’re dealing with media, you’re dealing with audiences. When you publish something in the real world, you have to expect what’s going to come back to you,” Burns said. “This doesn’t simply just fast-track our students to publish their work to a real audience, but helps them learn how to deal with the feedback and what goes on in the media before they go out into the real world.”

After refining the pipeline through Simmons’ course, CMS faculty and Student Publications leaders plan to expand the model into advanced reporting courses.

Slack is one of three faculty members from Louisiana institutions selected for the 2026 cohort. The Faculty Champions selected this year represent institutions across 41 states and two Canadian provinces, including 15 community colleges, 41 minority-serving institutions, four historically Black colleges and universities, 30 Hispanic-serving institutions, seven public media outlets, 35 private institutions, and 113 public institutions.