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Dr. Alfred Delahaye, professor emeritus of journalism and founder of the Nicholls State University Department of Mass Communication, left more than $670,000 from his estate to the University to assist Mass Communication students.
Dr. James Stewart, department head of Mass Communication, said, “Dr. Delahaye represents the type of faculty members Nicholls has attracted through the years, people for whom their position at the University was more vocation than occupation.”
“Dr. Delahaye was truly dedicated to the University and the department,” Stewart added. “Even after his retirement, he showed up to his office (as a professor emeritus) every day in a coat and tie, ready to pitch in wherever he could until his health would no longer allow it. Even then, he would check in by phone or offer to edit documents.”
Prior to his death, Delahaye provided funds to the University to establish an endowed professorship, and the beneficiary of one of his life insurance policies was the Nicholls chapter of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
“Dr. Delahaye made such a huge difference in the lives of his students – some of whom were not even MACO majors – and he will continue to do so after his passing,” Stewart said.
In fall 1957, Delahaye taught the first journalism course ever offered at Nicholls. He soon became the primary founder and coordinator of the Nicholls Hall of Fame and Alumni Federation and began the first regularly published student handbook “The Paddle” and the alumni publication “The Colonel.”
Delahaye taught journalism and technical writing courses at Nicholls and served as director of publications and public information. When Dr. David Boudreaux allowed him to teach two sophomore journalism classes every semester, a solid foundation for a journalism program was in place. In 1972, Delahaye spent the summer in The Netherlands at the Amsterdam Institute for the Science of the Press, only to return to Nicholls and become instrumental in establishing a degree program called Communication Arts in 1973.
Delahaye became the unofficial coordinator of the degree program, which had no budget, no departmental status and no clearly defined faculty until 1990. In 1987, the state board called in out-of-state consultants to evaluate journalism programs across Louisiana. The Nicholls program received more positive statements than any other journalism program in Louisiana, leading the consultants to recommend placing faculty and facilities in one building, giving the program a budget and departmental status and setting a goal of national accreditation.
Delahaye became a professor emeritus in 1990 but continued to teach mass communication courses as an adjunct. He also continued to coordinate mass communication scholarships and awards, which sometimes totaled about $18,000 a year. He worked as a volunteer in his Talbot Hall office every day, even after he stopped teaching.
In 1999 and 2005 the Nicholls Foundation published two volumes of Nicholls State University history researched and written by Delahaye: “The Elkins-Galliano Years 1948-1983,” and “The Ayo Years, 1983-2003.” Delahaye planned and coordinated every aspect of the printing, and all sales income, about $30,000, made possible a mass communication scholarship named for Walter M. Lowrey, who was instrumental in hiring Delahaye and getting the first journalism course offered.
Delahaye was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nicholls in fall 2008. In March 2009, he was honored at a fundraising banquet attended by his friends, relatives and former students. He was presented with an oak, which today grows in the quadrangle next to a bronze plaque to honor his more than 52 years of service to Nicholls.
The Nicholls Foundation, an independent 501(c)3 corporation, exists to support the mission of Nicholls State University by seeking gifts and grants and by managing those funds and other assets to support Nicholls through endowed chairs, professorships, scholarships and other enhancement efforts. To learn more about donating to Nicholls, visit nichollsfoundation.org.
