Karla Broadus has had a 24-year career teaching at UTSA.
DECEMBER 17, 2020 — Karla Broadus M.A. ’95, a senior lecturer and the director of the African American Studies program, is retiring after 24 years of serving as a faculty member at UTSA.
Broadus joined the university as a lecturer in 1996 after completing her master’s degree at UTSA the year prior.
During her time at the university Broadus served as an adviser for the College of Education and Human Development’s Reading Club and faculty adviser for the chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
She has also been part of several Office of Inclusive Excellence efforts, such as the MLK Jr. March and César Chavez March planning committees and the Hispanic Heritage Month planning group.
As chair for the MLK Jr. March committee, Broadus helped establish the MLK Jr. Scholarship and organized groups of Roadrunners to participate in San Antonio’s MLK Jr. March, one of the largest commemorative marches in observance of King’s birthday in the nation.
“Through her 30 years as an educator at the K–8 and higher education levels, 24 at UTSA, Karla Broadus has been a fierce supporter of African American studies and an advocate for students—all while maintaining ties with her communities,” said Alejandra Elenes, professor and chair of the Department of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies. “She has nurtured and kept afloat the African American Studies program, co-authored the documents to establish the REGSS department and created the proposal for the B.A. degree in African American Studies. I am very proud of her and wish her the best in her retirement, but I know that we will continue to work together.”
Broadus’ most notable work at UTSA is visible through the expansion of the African American Studies program, which was formerly part of COEHD’s Consortium for Social Transformation. In 2016 Broadus took over as the program’s newest director with the plan of adding new classes, faculty and research projects.
“The opportunity to work with faculty, staff and students across the university to successfully promote educational opportunities for UTSA and the community will always be remembered,” Broadus said.
When first asked to spearhead the expansion Broadus said she was supposed to be part of the project for only two years. But two years turned into five.
“I was asked to help reestablish the African American Studies program and grow it from where it originally was,” she said. “We built new classes and brought up our enrollment significantly. It’s definitely flourished. We’re not located in a consortium anymore, but now we’re housed in our own brand new department.”
The African American Studies program is now part of the Department of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies, created in 2019.
Most recently Broadus launched the Black Lives Matter course within the African American Studies program. The multicultural, multidisciplinary course was introduced during the fall 2020 semester as an opportunity to delve into the importance of the movement and its historical and social cultural contexts.
“Learning from the UTSA students while teaching them at the same time is and was an uplifting experience as an educator,” Broadus said.
Broadus’ passion for diversity in education and helping others stems since long before her arrival at UTSA. She earned a bachelor of science degree in social welfare from Southern Illinois University before attending Pepperdine University for her first master’s degree, in multiple subjects education. Broadus then completed her second master’s degree, in literacy education and educational leadership and administration, at UTSA.
During her career Broadus has served as an assistant principal in Southwest Independent School District and as an academic adviser at Southern Illinois University as an academic adviser, where she helped Black students get into the engineering field.
Broadus also was an admissions counselor at The University of Texas at Austin, where she was in charge of the UT Day events and increasing African American student enrollment.
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