New President on Board

Dr. Shearon Roberts, Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at Xavier University of Louisiana has been named the new president for the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication (SWECJMC). She will be in charge of the research paper competition for the organization’s yearly fall conference, being held this year at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, LA., on October 4-5, 2019. Her appointment will last a year; the SWECJMC appoints a new president on an annual basis.

Shearon Roberts supervises student internships, practicums and student mass media research projects at Xavier University of Louisiana. She trains students in digital media to be able to work in media convergence in print, broadcast and online formats. She has worked as a local news reporter, covered national news for the leading U.S. dailies and worked as an international correspondent for print, radio and broadcast media outlets. She has also worked in non-profit public relations and oversaw state government survey research conducted at Louisiana State University’s Public Policy Research Lab.

Roberts speaks French, Spanish and Haitian Creole and has visited Latin American and Caribbean nations both as a journalist and for scholarly research. Roberts conducted extensive research with Haiti’s leading print, radio, television and alternative news organizations in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Prior to Haiti, Roberts conducted research with journalists working at leading news organizations throughout the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Robert’s research is the subject of the 2014 book Oil and Water: Media Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, of which she is a co-author (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1672). Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Visual Communication Quarterly. Roberts’ research looks at the changes to the local media industry throughout the Gulf Coast. She is also currently conducting research that explores the development of media systems within the Caribbean, and historical media ties between Haiti and New Orleans.