Biography

Now working as executive director of Strategic Communications within WVU Strategic Communications and Marketing, Shauna grew up in Fairmont with some vague dreams about how her life might go, but no real understanding of the many, many possibilities available to those willing to put in the work.

A former Boreman South resident assistant and member of the Mountaineer Marching Band, she credits WVU with opening doors to those possibilities.

When Shauna graduated from the University, she was already working full-time as a reporter for WBOY-TV in Clarksburg. She quickly moved to WCHS Radio in Charleston before returning to Morgantown in her early 20s to serve as news director for WAJR Radio.

Her professional career later took her to Snowshoe Mountain Resort in Pocahontas County. After that, she accepted a new opportunity with what is now WVRC Media — formerly West Virginia Radio Corporation — as assistant news director and anchor for the MetroNews Radio Network, a statewide, commercial network based in Charleston.

Her role expanded to include a writing and co-anchoring position on “The Morning News,” a radio news program airing on weekday mornings across the Mountain State which also eventually included a podcast version.

In her various news positions, Shauna has written first drafts of history for events that include the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Sago Mine Disaster, the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, the 2016 floods in central and southeastern West Virginia, two teacher strikes, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and many, many more.

She has covered U.S. presidents from motorcades, ballrooms and gymnasiums, flown into New Orleans with the West Virginia National Guard in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, sat in on high-profile murder and corruption trials, rappelled from the New River Gorge Bridge, and generally followed stories wherever they would take her.

Her broadcasting work was recognized by the West Virginia Broadcasters Association and multiples times she was part of a MetroNews team honored with national Edward R. Murrow Awards, which recognize the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.

At WVU, she leads a powerhouse team of professionals in tapping into and telling the University’s stories while sharing critical information with internal and external audiences via platforms that include WVUToday and ENews.

Within the Office of Strategic Communications — the University’s “news hub” which operates in collaboration with college, school and unit communicators — are internal faculty communications, internal staff communications, University-level media relations and crisis communications.

All function in service to the University and the people who make it what it is.

Service is a motivator for Shauna.

Throughout her career, she has hired and trained new generations of reporters and communicators — her current and future replacements who, like her in her younger and more formative years, may not yet understand the full range of possibilities available to them.

Shauna has a supportive family, great friends who have been with her for decades, and a belief that you take your own good time with you wherever you go.

She has found nowhere else like West Virginia, where her feet can be planted with such certainty in a true feeling of “home.”

Shauna’s late father, Don, should have attended college but, for many reasons, did not have the opportunity to do so. Years after his death, she lives on in tribute by following his much-repeated advice: “Keep your head down. Work harder.”

We have work to do.

Let’s Go!

Education

• B.S. Journalism, West Virginia University Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism