Summer 2014 Commencement speaker Charles E. Richard is an English professor and director of the Moving Image Arts program.
Under his leadership, students have produced award-winning documentaries shown in the U.S. and at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Richard, the Joseph P. Montiel/BORSF Professor of English, teaches what he’s learned as a screenwriter, director and actor whose work has earned national recognition.
In addition to many commissioned film projects, he has written, directed or produced more than a dozen documentaries through Louisiana Public Broadcasting about Louisiana culture and history. Richard was an associate producer of a one-hour documentary, An American Utopia, which PBS distributed nationally in 1996.
His 2003 book, Louisiana: An Illustrated History, now in its third printing, is a companion to a documentary series he wrote for LPB celebrating Louisiana's bicentennial. The acclaimed documentary, Louisiana: A History, won an Emmy Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, seven Telly Awards and a New York Film Festival Award.
Richard’s peers also have recognized his commitment to excellence in the classroom. The UL Â鶹´«Ã½app Foundation honored him earlier this year with a Distinguished Professor Award. The award, which was established in 1965, is given each year to two professors who are nominated and selected by their colleagues.
A Louisiana native, Richard earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing at Georgia State University and a master’s degree from LSU. In 2005, he helped to create the interdisciplinary Moving Image Arts program at UL Â鶹´«Ã½app. It focuses on the study and production of film and television, animation and computer games.