Department of Communication Spring 2019 Honors Banquet
Please join us for a night to celebrate the accomplishments of the students and faculty of the UL Lafayette Communication Department. This annual banquet recognizes outstanding students for their successes throughout their time in a certain major under the Department of Communication.
This banquet is also the department’s chance to acknowledge the career of one of its own when the Outstanding Communication Alumni Award is presented each year. The recipient of the award serves as the keynote speaker for this event. Some of these recipients have ranged from national television personalities to local business leaders. These recipients have made a lasting impact on the community they are currently serving while continuing to promote the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
This year’s recipient is no stranger to most that have grown up or lived in Acadiana. Agnes Derouen will be the recipient of the Outstanding Communication Alumni Award for 2019. We are looking forward to recognizing her at this year’s event.
As former and current students, we ask that you join us for this special night. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a cocktail hour hosted in the Atchafalaya Ballroom. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 per person and include your meal. A cash bar for cocktails will also be provided.
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out Tucker Sappington with the Alumni Association or Dr. Caryn Winters with the Department of Communication.
2019 Outstanding Alumni Award Recipient:
Agnes Derouen graduated in 1976 from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where she earned a Bachelor of Arts dual degree in English and Journalism.
For 20 years, Derouen worked as an anchor, reporter, managing editor, and on several occasions, interim news director at KATC in Lafayette. While there, she earned numerous AP awards in feature reporting and for several documentaries. Derouen also won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for a feature report.
She considers the current highlights of her career to be interviewing Mother Teresa, covering a Papal visit, both in New Orleans and St. Louis, and reporting on Acadian culture from events all over Canada. As a smooth jazz enthusiast, another highlight includes interviewing entertainment figures such as Ella Fitzgerald, Rudolph Nureyev, the Crusaders.
Derouen has also won several community awards from Outstanding Young Business Woman to the Media Award from the Acadiana Arts Council. She was also affiliated with several Lafayette area arts groups, on the first board of Hospice of Acadiana, served on several other boards including the Lafayette Natural History Museum and Planetarium, and served as secretary of the UL Lafayette Alumni Association.
In June 2002, Derouen began working for KVHP-Fox 29 in Lake Charles, first as a 5 p.m. anchor and then as a noon show host and producer. She remained there until June 2006 when she began a part-time job with the Calcasieu Parish Public Library System in the Reference Department. Many people often ask me about working at a library, I worked in my high school library as an elective and then partly put myself through college by working in Dupre library there - I just love books! While working at the library, KPLC called Derouen and she quickly found herself back in television. She is currently the Managing Editor of KPLC News and taking on noon anchor duties.
Derouen is a native of Avery Island, Louisiana and a graduate of Mt. Carmel Academy. She is an avid reader, often reading as many as 4 books a week and collecting first edition, signed books by her favorite authors. Derouen also collects brooches or pins after her mother left behind hundreds to her. In addition, she also has a large collection of jazz music. Derouen also loves animals and currently has a half mastiff dog who is quite a handful.