Melinda Spaulding Chevalier, an Emmy Award-winning communicator, brand strategist, crisis management expert and community affairs leader, was named vice president for Public Affairs in August 2023. Spaulding Chevalier is charged with developing active support for the university among its broad base of stakeholders: the university community; local, state and federal policymakers; alumni, donors and friends of the university; broadcast, print, specialty communication and social media, and the general public.

The 50-member Public Affairs team serves the university in various critical areas, including creative services, government relations, marketing and digital communications, multicultural community relations, news and media relations, university relations, and campus events.

Spaulding Chevalier most recently served as vice president of communications and advancement at Texas Southern University and executive director of the TSU Foundation. Prior to her work at TSU, Spaulding Chevalier spent 20 years in print and broadcast news. She was a news anchor and reporter for 13 years at KRIV Fox 26 Television Stations Group in Houston, a news reporter for the ABC affiliate WGNO in New Orleans and a producer for KTLA News in Los Angeles. A native of New Jersey, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Howard University and master class credit from Louisiana State University’s Manship Graduate School of Mass Communication.