Claire Hopson Procopio

Professor Teaches Her Students to be 'Real-World Ready'

Since the time she started teaching at Southeastern in 2005, Claire Hopson Procopio has continually made her mark in the Department of Communication and Media Studies. 

Procopio’s interest in communication started at a young age from listening to her mother, Dr. Carol Hopson, teach speech courses at Delgado Community College.

“I sat through her public speaking class from fourth grade to sixth grade, and I thought to myself that teaching communication could be a good life if you wanted to have kids and have a balance. It was a way to have time and commitment to family, but still have a significant professional career,” said Procopio.

Procopio knew what her career path was before she was out of elementary school. 

“You could go back to when I was a little kid and people would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I would say I wanted to be a professor and that I wanted to get a Ph.D. and later teach in the state. I knew that I wanted to go away to get my Ph.D. and then come back to teach communication in Louisiana,” she said.

Procopio earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech communication from Louisiana State University. She later earned her doctorate at Indiana University.

She served as an assistant professor of speech and government at Baton Rouge Community College before coming to Southeastern. She teaches communication classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

While keeping up with the advancements in her field and her academic career, Procopio has dedicated her time to the community. She has helped organize the first annual Baton Rouge Community College Speech Development Debate Night and has moderated several forums for Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

Procopio has taught several classes including Introduction to Public Speaking. She strongly believes it is essential for all majors to have speech skills.

“Employers will say the skills they want their employees to have are better oral communication skills. If you teach public speaking right, it is really a useful skill for critical thinking, presenting oneself in a professional way and being a critical consumer of messages,” she said.

From 2008 to 2016, Procopio served as the undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Communication and Media Studies. She said one of her biggest accomplishments was conducting student assessments, the results of which were used to transform the communication curriculum. 

“We launched a big major field assessment in 2011. We identified areas of improvement and gained ground. We noticed through the first round of assessments that we weren’t really good at teaching students how to orally cite supporting material,” said Procopio. “So we, as a faculty, stepped up our efforts, and we really pushed teaching students how to cite orally and justify this as a credible source. Sure enough, we did the assessment again and saw that we really gained ground. We went from almost no one citing to almost everyone citing.” 

Her students have praised her dedication to teaching and aiding students, including former student and current Director of Marketing and Communications at the Greater Hammond Chamber of Commerce Megan Mosher.

“Motivational speaker William Arthur Ward once said, ‘The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’ Dr. Claire Procopio is a great teacher,” said Mosher.

Recently, she was named head of the Honors Program, where she has implemented policies to help students decide which honors classes to take. “I have also reached out to honor faculty members to help them advertise honors classes on the university website. Honors enrollment is up as result.”

While focusing on the future of the Honors Department, Procopio works concurrently to improve the speech skills of her students and prepare them for real world experiences outside the classroom.

“Speeches take place in the real world. They don’t always happen in the classroom. I have coordinated a number of activities like free speech alley, public speaking contest, and the presidential forum,” said Procopio. “I look for opportunities to take things connected to what they do in class and put on an actual event.

“I honestly believe when students express out loud what they think they are hearing and understanding is where they learn it,” she added.