Victoria LaPoe

 A former student now working at a Cleveland television station said it best: Journalism “runs in her veins.”

Dr. Victoria LaPoe is a journalist, media strategist, researcher and professor whose work bridges journalism, digital media, public relations, strategic and organizational communication, and public affairs. Her professional experience spans television news, international media consulting, audience research, talent coaching, public relations and higher education leadership. She is thankful to be part of a department that understands journalism is grounded in history, ethics, law, public accountability and civic responsibility.

LaPoe began her journalism career early. After entering high school at 13, she became an editor of her high school newspaper at 15 and wrote and anchored televised news cut-ins through the university-supported NewsWhys program. By 17, she was writing for The Daily Iowan. As a young journalist, she covered the Iowa caucuses, local government, health care, community issues and political campaigns; reported for The Gazette’s Iowa City bureau; and interned at KCRG-TV. Her early reporting included interviews with national political and public-health figures.

LaPoe later conducted research and developed strategy for Frank N. Magid Associates and Crawford, Johnson & Northcott, specializing in audience research, marketing communication, strategy and talent coaching. Her work supported television, political, entertainment and sports clients, along with digital media initiatives in the United States and internationally. She also contributed to research and strategic guidance surrounding television news coverage after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Her broadcasting career included work in Des Moines and Louisville, where she produced daily newscasts, political and breaking-news coverage, sports programming, and major-event coverage ranging from the Olympics to the Kentucky Derby. At WHAS-11, she produced highly rated newscasts in the competitive Louisville television market and earned a regional Associated Press award for Best Newscast coverage of breaking news. A series she pitched, researched and helped produce was later featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Her work also crossed emerging digital platforms, including voicing news headlines for an early television-station website bot.

Alongside her journalism career, LaPoe pursued graduate study in research, statistics, strategy, organizational communication and audience behavior. She completed MBA coursework at the University of Iowa before pursuing doctoral study at Louisiana State University, where she earned her Ph.D. Her interdisciplinary doctoral work incorporated extensive political science coursework in advanced population statistics, quantitative reasoning and public affairs research.

In 2013, LaPoe began her academic career at Western Kentucky University, where she became sequence coordinator for broadcasting and film as a pre-tenure assistant professor, overseeing approximately 500 students within WKU’s state-recognized Program of Distinction in broadcasting and journalism. She contributed to ACEJMC reaccreditation, newsroom technology and infrastructure improvements, and management of the university’s student-run FCC-licensed radio station. She taught across journalism, broadcasting, advertising, public relations and film, including live breaking-news and severe-weather coverage.

In 2017, LaPoe moved to Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, where she taught journalism and strategic communication and directed journalism studies for the Honors Tutorial College from 2020 to 2024. She advised award-winning students and student organizations and participated in accreditation and program assessment. In 2018, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication honored her with its Outstanding Woman in Journalism and Mass Communication Education award. In spring 2025, she was named Overall Outstanding University Professor and received the Scripps College Discovery Award for fostering creativity, collaboration and innovation.

In fall 2025, LaPoe became a professor at the University of Cincinnati. Her scholarship explores journalism, academic communication systems, ethics in sourcing, artificial intelligence, public relations, environmental communication and crisis communication.

A lifetime member of the Indigenous Journalists Association, LaPoe served as vice president from 2017 to 2019 and education chair from 2016 to 2019 and has been a member of its education committee since 2015. In 2026, she was elected programming chair of the Public Relations Society of America Educators Academy after serving on its programming committee in 2025. She also sits on the inaugural editorial board of Diné College Press.

Outside academia, LaPoe enjoys gardening and spending time with her husband, two sons, Cane Corsos and cats. Her name and her husband’s are engraved on a brick outside LSU’s journalism school commemorating their Ph.D. graduations—a fitting connection for a Bengals fan and graduate of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.

 

Ph.D.: Louisiana State University (Media and Public Affairs)

M.A.: University of Iowa (Journalism and Mass Communication)

B.A.: University of Iowa (Journalism and Mass Communication & Theatre)

• Media sourcing
• Digital media and technology
• Journalism education
• Public relations and strategic communication

2025 Outstanding University Professor Ohio University

2025 Discovery Pillar Award (Outstanding Innovation in Research) Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University

2018 Outstanding Woman in Journalism and Mass Communication Education Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Commission on the Status of Women Division

2009 Best Newscast (State Level) Associated Press

2023-2024 Artificial Intelligence Institute Graduate,

2024-2024 Mediation Training Certificate,

2024-2024 Wellness Education Training, Ohio University, ,

2025-2025 Scholarly Teaching and Learning Certificate, Ohio University, ,

2025-2025 Experiential Learning Certificate, Ohio University, ,

2025-2025 Engaging Alumni Training, Ohio University, ,