As a student…
Chris Waugaman started his journey into media at a very young age when he was a student in Southside Richmond at Meadowbrook High School. Here, his love for photography, music and sports took root and began to develop.
As an English major in the classrooms of Tucker Hall at The College of William and Mary, he continued to study storytelling by studying the classics and concentrating on American Literature. While formally earning his degree in English, he pursued his love of music and media in the WCWM studio and the performance rooms of Ewell Hall. In addition, his profound appreciation for the work done at The Flat Hat on campus stirred a love of community engagement through newspaper.
After graduation in 1996, he found a teaching job in nearby Prince George County, Va., where except for a class for the yearbook, there was little journalism curriculum to be found.
As a teacher…
In 2002, as a 4th year teacher, Waugaman started the Royal News newspaper with a small group of English students at Prince George High School, and 19 years later, the paper developed into one of the most highly regarded journalism programs in the country.
Along the way in his 27 years in the high school classroom, he created the converged team of Royals Media and advised the online TRNWIRED.org news site, the broadcast PGTV NEWS newsmagazine show, the literary magazine Etcetera and the yearbook Peerage, as well as the Royal News newspaper. Over the years, Waugaman led the staffs to six CSPA Gold Crowns, ten CSPA Silver Crowns, ten NSPA Pacemakers, and many more state awards.
In 2014, Waugaman was named the Dow Jones National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. He has also been awarded a Gold Key by Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the NSPA Pioneer Award.
He has taken multiple staffs to lobby the Virginia General Assembly in support of New Voices legislation for student-press rights. Waugaman has also spent time working as the director of the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers & Advisers, with the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, and as the First Vice President for membership services with CSPA. Annually he hosts the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Adviser’s Annual JRetreat Conference.
In 2012, he was named a Lowell Milken Center Fellow, where he began a project called “We Are Newspapermen,” which highlights the achievements of many of the unsung heroes of the Black press throughout the last 100 years.
He presents sessions each year at the JEA/NSPA national conventions, the CSPA fall & spring conferences, and at many summer camps, including camps in Virginia, North Carolina, New York and California. He cherishes the opportunity to work with students all over the country.
As a professor…
Now teaching at Virginia State University, he has helped revive the Virginia Statesman newspaper and has created the news website TheVirginiaStatesman.com. Most recently the staff at VSU won a 6th place Best of Show with ACP/CMA and a 1st place Pinnacle Award in 2023.
As the Mass Communication Writing Coordinator for VSU, Waugaman teaches the Intro to Journalism, Copyediting, and Print & Online Media courses which focus on journalistic writing and AP style.
Waugaman participated in a panel on diversity and equity at the August 2023 Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Conference in Washington, D.C. and continues to focus on the development of student media at HBCUs.