Nihar Sreepada, Lillian Bridwell-Bowles Innovative C-I Teacher Award recipient
April 20, 2026
– Credit: Manship School of Mass Communication
For Dr. Nihar Sreepada, teaching public relations means handing students the keys to a real agency—and then holding them accountable for what they build.
Nihar is an assistant professor in the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU, where he teaches Public Relations Campaigns (MC 4005), the school's senior capstone course certified in written and technological communication. From the first week, he tells students something that reframes everything that follows: when they walk into his class, they are not students. They are professionals.
That conviction shapes every element of MC 4005. Students are divided into teams, each functioning as a mini PR agency assigned to a real nonprofit client. By Week 5, each team has signed a formal Letter of Agreement committing to specific goals and deliverables. The campaign project—a comprehensive written plan book and a successfully executed public event—accounts for 50 percent of the course grade. The press releases go to actual news outlets. The social media posts are public-facing. The events draw real audiences.
Since joining LSU in 2023, Nihar has built the course around a recurring partnership with the Baton Rouge Improv Comedy Festival, a client he selects because the work goes well beyond what a traditional classroom project demands. Over two years, his students have grown the festival from a small improv night into a multi-day public event, managing everything from branding and media relations to venue logistics and fundraising. In 2025, with no major donor available, students organized karaoke nights, partnered with local restaurants, and ran raffle events to make the festival happen. They did.
Students also leave with a professional digital portfolio—a required individual assignment built on WordPress or Wix, complete with writing samples, design work, and a resume—ready for job applications by graduation. MC 4005 is typically the last course students take before they graduate, and Nihar designs it accordingly. Students have told him they actively highlight the festival experience in job interviews. One student shared: “His class is truly engaging, providing us with many opportunities to learn and contribute to class in different formats. A class that I originally dreaded has turned into a class that I really enjoy due to his teaching.”
Dean Kim Bissell of the Manship School endorsed Nihar's nomination, noting that he is "especially effective at creating learning experiences that encourage collaboration, exposure to diverse perspectives, and reflection" and that his work demonstrates "a thoughtful balance between innovation and accessibility." Before joining LSU, Nihar worked in events and public relations across nonprofit, sports, and food and beverage industries in Australia and India—experience he deliberately recreates for his students in MC 4005.
Nihar shared that students gain a great deal from the communication-intensive work in the course. From student reflections, Nihar heard that the result of performing the kind of demanding and challenging work of executing a full-fledged festival made them less fearful of stepping into the professional world.
In Spring 2026, Nihar's students are working with an expanded client roster that includes Global Services at LSU, Hilltop Arboretum, and Formula SAE TigerRacing. The festival may be the most dramatic proof of what his students can do. But the real outcome is what they carry out the door: a completed campaign, a professional portfolio, and the confidence of someone who has already delivered for a real client.
Nihar shares that this work helps students beyond the classroom, “becoming a toolkit for job hunting. Having this ready by graduation significantly boosts their confidence and employability.”
About the Lillian Bridwell-Bowles Innovative C-I Teacher Award
The Lillian Bridwell-Bowles Innovative C-I Teacher Award recognizes, inspires, and continues to support innovation in C-I course/assignment design, teaching, assessment/feedback practices, classroom management, and teaching productivity/efficiency/effectiveness. Any LSU faculty member—tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure track, full or part-time—who has taught a certified C-I course within the past three semesters and has not previously received this award is eligible. Recipients receive a $500 award. This award is named in honor of Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, an internationally recognized scholar of communication-intensive pedagogy and the founder of LSU’s Communication across the Curriculum program.