Robert Gauthreaux III, Ph.D., brings a rare combination of meteorology, broadcasting, and higher education to Sam Houston State University. A Louisiana native, Gauthreaux has worked as a broadcast meteorologist since 2013, with stops in Louisiana, Texas and Ohio, while earning degrees in meteorology; climatology; and media and communication. His work has focused heavily on making complex weather information understandable and accessible to the public, including weather communication in Spanish and American Sign Language. He now serves as an Assistant Professor of Practice in Journalism and Emerging Media at SHSU, where he brings his years of experience in broadcast news into the classroom.
Growing up in Louisiana, we got our fair share of storms. I remember, when I was in kindergarten, Hurricane Andrew hit. We lived inland, so a lot of extended family came up to stay with us during the storm. It made me realize what a big deal hurricanes are and kind of sparked my interest in learning more about weather. I moved to Seattle in third grade, and while they get a lot of rain, they don’t have thunderstorms like the South. I really missed that because I loved thunderstorms. Meteorology just seemed like a cool, natural fit for me.
I started in Alexandria, Louisiana, at the number one station for the four parishes it covered, so it was very much a local station. I learned a lot about the impact of local stations. People started recognizing me and saying “hi” to me when I hadn’t ever seen them before. Then I moved to Baton Rouge, where I got my first taste of severe weather. That was a meaningful experience for me, because afterwards, I would get emails from viewers saying that I saved their families, because they were able to get out in time. At the station, I’m just staring at a camera, hoping someone is listening, so it felt good to know what I was doing was impacting real people. Then I went to a local station in Lubbock, and I got to experience the whole range of weather there. I covered everything from tornadoes and dust storms to snow. After that, I went to Ohio for a little while, at another small-town station. It was mostly winter weather up there. The biggest thing I think I learned from all these stations is you have to get to know the community, especially if you’re doing local work. I mean, I used to be a bingo caller. You must go out and be involved in the community so they know you and can trust you, and you also need to know the local landmarks. A weatherman named Nash Roberts was a big inspiration to me. He knew the community so well that when big storms were coming, they would call him in to cover them even after his retirement, because the station knew the people would trust what he had to say. That’s what I aspire to do.
I love the people here, they’re so friendly, and there is so much history here. I’d love to call bingo somewhere. I’ve started going out into the community more, and I have a few favorite places, Mr. Hamburger being one of them. I love going downtown, too, and eating at Cafe Texan. There are so many great places here. I’m active in my church, and I do school talks for journalism as well.
After I finished my degree, I realized I have a pretty unique skillset. My Ph.D. is in media and communication, my master’s is in climatology, and my bachelor’s is in meteorology. I connected with a journalism professor here at Sam Houston, and I was very impressed with the school’s programs. One thing that makes Sam different is even freshman and sophomores can contribute to the university newspapers and newscasts, so there’s more of a hands-on focus. Something I want to work on with them is reporting on breaking weather! That is one of the most exciting things you get to do as a meteorologist—and one of the most chaotic. It would be great to give them that first taste of how hectic breaking news can be. I also get to apply my real-world experience into teaching my students. I’m also keeping track of the changes journalism is facing, like AI newscasters, and staying on top of those developments so I can teach students how to use or adapt to them.
I think local journalism will endure, as long as journalists and meteorologists maintain their connections to the community. I mean, the best weather communicators started in journalism and moved to weather. To communicate risk, you have to be able to connect to the people you serve. You have to talk like them, act like them, be a member of the community. That’s something AI reporters will never have—that human connection. A lot of people think meteorologists are always wrong, but a lot of our data and mapping methods are genuinely accurate, especially in recent years. What can makes us seem “wrong” is an inability to accurately communicate the weather circumstances. It’s easy to get caught up in fancy terminology that is difficult to understand.
I love to learn, and I’m always learning. I was honestly pretty nervous about being a professor, but my students seem to like me (or at least that’s what they put on their class evaluations), and I’ve been able to do a lot of interesting research. Academia is very different from the places I’ve worked before, and everyone seems genuinely supportive of each other. The students are willing and eager to be a part of building the weather program here. I’ve started to work with local media to provide weather reports to the city and keep people informed. Walker County is in a really distinctive location, where none of the major news stations report on the weather here, so I want to be someone y’all can trust to provide local weather information.
You can follow Dr. Gauthreaux on social media at @drrgiii to keep up with the latest weather updates.
