Dr. Claire Hopson Procopio has served as Dean of the College of Honors & Excellence at Southeastern Louisiana University since 2024, after serving as Interim Dean for one year. A communication faculty member at Southeastern since 2005, Dr. Procopio founded the College of Honors & Excellence and provides strategic direction to multiple departments including First-Year Success, Academic and Career Exploration, the Tinsley Learning Center, Transfer Student Success Center, and the Honors Program. Under her leadership, the honors program has experienced remarkable growth—expanding from under 200 students to over 1000 students currently. She also oversees the mandatory first-year success program for 2,500+ freshmen and has helped achieve the highest freshman retention rate in university history.
Dr. Procopio's work extends beyond campus. She serves as Southeastern's team lead for the Louisiana Board of Regents' Meauxmentum initiative and is developing innovative transfer student success approaches, including a first-ever system-level honors 2+2 MOU with LCTCS. Previously, Dr. Procopio served as Interim Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Baton Rouge Community College, where she coordinated the preparation and submission of BRCC's SACSCOC accreditation self-study, successfully leading the college to candidacy and initial accreditation. She also served as one of six scholars on the National Communication Association's presidential taskforce to develop the field's definitive program review guidelines and participated in the Lumina Foundation’s Tuning Project to develop national learning outcomes standards in communication at the two-year, four-year, and MA levels.
Dr. Procopio earned a Ph.D. in Speech Communication from Indiana University and serves on multiple university committees including the General Education Assessment & Innovation committee, Dean's Council, and the University Planning Council. Her scholarship exploring effective communication strategies has been published in journals including the Journal of Applied Communication, Mentoring & Tutoring, Academic Leadership, Honors in Practice, Communication Education, and Discourse. She was recognized with the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2017 and the L.E. Chandler Award for Excellence in supporting student extracurriculars in 2021.
