LSU Racial Equality Experts Available to Speak to Media

LSU has a number of experts available to discuss topics related to race, Black history, experience and identity, police brutality, media and more. Please check here as this list will be updated.

To schedule interviews contact Abbi Rocha Laymoun [email protected] or 225-578-3867.

• Jinx Broussard, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Professor and Bart R. Swanson Endowed Memorial Professor
  Areas of Expertise: The Black press, representations of racial and ethnic minorities, media history, alternative media, crisis communication, public relations strategies and tactics and the civil rights movement.
  Jinx Broussard website
  [email protected]
• Cassandra Chaney, LSU Child & Family Studies professor 
  Areas of Expertise: She wrote Police Use of Excessive Force against African Americans: Historical Antecedents and Community Perceptions. Her research examines the narratives of single, dating, cohabitating and married Blacks, as well as how religion and spirituality support these families, both historically and today.
  Cassandra Chaney website
  [email protected]
• Stephen Finley, LSU Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies and African & African American Studies associate professor
  Areas of Expertise: African American religion, race and religion, critical whiteness studies, whiteness and religion.
  Stephen Finley website
  [email protected]
• Gaines Foster, LSU Foundation Professor of History
  Areas of Expertise: History of the South, race relations and the continuing battle over the memory of the Civil War
  Gaines Foster website
  [email protected]
• Tina M. Harris, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication Douglas L. Manship Sr.-Dori Maynard Race, Media and Cultural Literacy Endowed Chair 
  Areas of Expertise: An internationally renowned interracial communication scholar with particular interests in race, media representations and racial social justice.
  Tina M. Harris website
  [email protected]
• Sheryl Kennedy Haydel, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication assistant professor in public relations
  Areas of Expertise: 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.
  [email protected]
• Herman O. Kelly, Jr., LSU African & African American Studies and School of Education adjunct instructor and community pastor
  Areas of Expertise: Racism, community engagement and integration. Editor of the anthology, Black Rhetorical Traditions in the Civil Rights Movement: Voices of Struggle and Strength.
  Herman O. Kelly, Jr. website
  225-936-6278
  [email protected]
• Lori Martin, LSU Department of Sociology and LSU Department of African and African American Studies professor
  Areas of Expertise: Persistent racism and economic disparities and how historic inequality has led to Black people being at greater risk of negative impacts during crises such as the pandemic. She is also an expert in race and ethnicity relations, demography, racial wealth inequality, asset poverty, race and sports and African American history, experience and identity.
  [email protected]
• Bryan McCann, LSU Department of Communication Studies assistant professor in rhetoric and cultural studies
  Areas of Expertise: Race, racism and criminal justice; crime and public culture; social movements; whiteness and white privilege; primary and general election debates; and how campaigns structure arguments.
  Bryan McCann website
  504-330-8166
  [email protected]
• Roland Mitchell, LSU College of Human Sciences & Education dean and the E.B. "Ted" Robert Endowed Professor in the School of Education
  Areas of Expertise: History of U.S. higher education; the experiences of underrepresented populations in post-secondary education; school-to-prison-pipeline issues; and university to community outreach/relational issues.
  /chse/education/faculty_and_staff_directory/mitchell.php
  [email protected]
• Dereck J. Rovaris Sr., LSU Chief Diversity Officer and Office of Diversity vice provost
  Areas of Expertise: Diversity and inclusion in higher education; the history and administration of higher education; race and gender in the U.S.; graduate placement for underrepresented students; and the historical development of HBCUs. Currently serves as president of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education.
  Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  [email protected]
• Meghan Sanders, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication associate professor and Media Effects Lab director
  Areas of Expertise: Media and psychology, focusing on the psychological effects of mass media as they pertain to psychological processes and effects of racial stereotyping
  Meghan Sanders website
  [email protected]
• David Stamps, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication assistant professor in mass media and public relations 
  Areas of Expertise: Psychological and behavioral effects of identity-focused, specifically race and gender-related, interpersonal interactions. Media representation of marginalized and underrepresented groups and the impact of media imagery of class, gender, race, ability status, geographic location, and sexuality on audiences' emotions, beliefs, and behavioral intentions.
  David Stamps website
  [email protected]
• Jose Torres, LSU Department of Sociology assistant professor
  Areas of expertise: Criminal justice, social control, race, ethnicity and policing. A former police officer, Torres worked exclusively in low-income communities and spent a majority of his time in a public housing community policing unit.
  /hss/sociology/people/faculty/faculty_profiles_new_2018/torres_jose.php
  [email protected]