PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 29, 2021) – Tiona Broussard, a candidate for a master’s degree in the Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) School of Architecture, has been named to the Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals by the College Station City Council. A student in PVAMU’s Community Development program, Broussard will serve a three-year term.
Tiona Broussard ’22
Boards of Adjustments have been described as “relief valves” by granting exceptions to a community’s ordinance regulations or allowing conditional uses of a property. Since a board’s decisions can affect neighboring property owners, neighbors are given notice of meetings and are granted the right to speak and raise concerns.
Broussard, who works as an administrative coordinator in the Department of Residence Life at Texas A&M University, and has previous experience in both privatized student housing and traditional real estate, sees her new appointment as a natural extension of her community development studies.
“What initially interested me in the community development program was the built environment, but I am also civic minded, and that is the really good part of this program — it marries the two,” Broussard said. “Community development includes a lot of emphasis on how policy impacts the environment.”
Broussard was motivated upon her arrival in College Station (from Louisiana, with a detour in Des Moines, Iowa) to become involved with Citizens University. A program of College Station City Hall, it gives residents an opportunity to learn, express their opinions, and ask questions of city administrators.
Her Community Development professors at PVAMU didn’t push her to apply to the city’s Board of Adjustments but, she said, “They get you so fired up by the things that you’re doing and learning, you have to get involved. The program is amazing; whatever you think you’ll get out of the program, you’ll get so much more. At the very least, it’ll make you a better person.”
For her part, Tiffany D. Thomas, an assistant professor in the program, said that Broussard “is already showing promise as a thought leader and influencer in her industry. I am positive she will make mighty and meaningful contributions to the Construction Board of Adjustments in College Station.”
The city’s current preoccupations involve “keeping neighborhood integrity intact,” in Broussard’s words, as well as supporting the city’s Comprehensive Plan for growth and development, as College Station is home to one of the largest universities in the U.S. – Texas A&M. She expects discussion and decisions reflecting those concerns. One thing she doesn’t know, however, is what will come after her three-year term. If being on the board is a stepping-stone for Broussard, it is one with an unspecified destination.
“This is all helpful, she said. “This position has everything to do with my passion and my purpose, which is helping people establish generational wealth through real estate and education and protecting their assets and land so that they can share it with their families for generations to come. I look forward to continuing service-learning so I can really make a difference in my community.”
By Andrew Cohen
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