Victoria LaPoe

Victoria L. LaPoe, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist, media strategist and scholar whose work bridges journalism, digital media, public relations, strategic communication and institutional communication systems. Her professional background includes television news, international media consulting, audience research, talent coaching, public relations and higher education leadership.

After entering high school at age 13, Dr. LaPoe was selected at age 15 as an editor of her high school newspaper while enrolled in an advanced math and science program in a major television market. Through a university-supported “NewsWhys” program, she wrote and anchored televised news cut-ins that aired on local NBC and PBS affiliates.

She went on to study broadcasting in college, where her reporting on a domestic violence shelter aired on public broadcasting television. Professionally, she later worked with the internationally recognized media consulting firm Frank N. Magid Associates, as well as Crawford, Johnson & Northcott. At those companies, she specialized in strategy research, marketing communication, audience analysis and talent coaching. Her work supported television, political, entertainment and sports clients, as well as emerging new media initiatives, across the United States and internationally.

Dr. LaPoe also served on a Future of News innovation team that researched and implemented real-time newsroom strategies for explaining major weather events to audiences.

During that period, she contributed to industry research and strategic guidance surrounding television news coverage following the Sept. 11 attacks. Her work focused on audience and programming considerations related to breaking-news coverage and the return of commercial advertising during crisis reporting.

Her broadcasting career involved producing in major and politically significant news markets, including Des Moines, Iowa and Louisville, Ky. She produced multiple daily newscasts, political and breaking-news coverage, high school sports programming and special-event coverage ranging from the Olympics to the Kentucky Derby.

While working in Louisville, Dr. LaPoe became part of an early generation of hybrid newsroom professionals who combined producing, writing, research, reporting and on-air voice work across multiple newsroom functions. Her work contributed to one of the top-rated 6 p.m. newscasts in the country, and she earned an Associated Press regional award for Best Newscast coverage of breaking news. A series project she pitched, researched and helped produce later appeared on “Good Morning America.”

Alongside her journalism career, Dr. LaPoe continued graduate study driven by longstanding interests in research, statistics, strategy, organizational communication and audience behavior. Drawing from both newsroom and consulting experiences, she completed coursework in the MBA program at the University of Iowa, including Corporate Financial Reporting, Marketing and Management, before redirecting her graduate studies toward a Ph.D. track.

Her interdisciplinary interests in media research, sports communication, quantitative reasoning and public affairs eventually led her to Louisiana State University, where she earned her Ph.D.

Following LSU, Dr. LaPoe joined Western Kentucky University in 2013. As a pre-tenure assistant professor, she was appointed overall sequence coordinator for broadcasting and film. In that role, she oversaw approximately 500 of the program’s 700 students within the university’s state-recognized Program of Distinction in broadcasting and journalism.

She also helped lead significant financial and technological upgrades to a newsroom while advising news, sports, television and radio programs. She later held interim management responsibilities for Revolution 91.7 (WWHR), WKU’s student-run FCC-licensed radio station. In addition to teaching writing for broadcasting, advertising, public relations and film, she taught news and sports reporting, producing and broadcast performance for both radio and television.

Her teaching and production experiences included live breaking-news and tornado coverage during broadcast events.

In 2017, Dr. LaPoe joined the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, where she taught in both journalism and strategic communication. She advised award-winning students, chaired the school’s contest committee and served as director of studies in journalism for the Honors Tutorial College from 2020 to 2024, successfully guiding a cohort through the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her time at Ohio University, students earned placements in Hearst's and Society of Professional Journalists' competitions, and she advised a first-place nationally recognized Public Relations Student Society of America chapter. In 2018, she received national recognition from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication with the 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.

Dr. LaPoe joined the University of Cincinnati in fall 2025. Her current scholarship explores journalism, academic communication systems, public relations ethics, artificial intelligence, digital academic commons, media sourcing and emerging forms of AI communication.

She is a lifetime member of the Indigenous Journalists Association. She served as vice president from 2017 to 2019, education chair from 2016 to 2019 and a member of the education committee beginning in 2015.

In 2026, Dr. LaPoe was elected to the executive committee of the Public Relations Society of America Educators Academy after serving in programming leadership in 2025. PRSA is a national organization representing nearly 20,000 members.

She also was selected for a two-year term on the inaugural editorial board of the Diné College Press, based on the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico.

In her spare time, Dr. LaPoe volunteers at an Urban Native Collective garden and spends time with her husband, two sons, Cane Corsos, cats and a frog named Sage that found its way into her garden.

Dr. LaPoe has one son born in Athens, Ohio, and another born near Tiger Stadium. Her name is engraved on a brick outside LSU’s journalism school alongside her husband’s, commemorating their Ph.D. graduations and reflecting a fitting connection for a Bengals' fan and graduate of the 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

- Television News Producer (Best Newscast Award Winner/Associated Press, Region),

- Client Strategist,

- Marketing Communication Specialist,

2008 -2009 Hybrid Special Projects Producer,

2023 -2025 Nonprofit Founder,

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, Center for Teaching Learning Assessment, , Ohio University

2025-2025 Scholarly Teaching and Learning Certificate, Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, , Ohio University

2025-2025 Experiential Learning Certificate, Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, , Ohio University

2025-2025 Engaging Alumni Training, Center for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, , Ohio University