Victoria T. Fields, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication
Dr. Victoria T. Fields, also known as “Dr. V,” is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media and an award-winning teacher-scholar. She currently teaches courses on Public Speaking (SPK 208), Organizational Communication Theory (COM 215), and Research Methods (COM 211). Her pedagogy is rooted in the advocacy for student success and well-being, often empowering students to recognize their valuable contributions to society. Dr. V strives to cultivate a classroom culture where students feel seen, heard, and valued. She aims to offer students hope, practical wisdom, and brave spaces where students feel comfortable showing up to class and being themselves.
Before West Chester University, Dr. V graduated summa cum laude with her B.S. in Communication and Sports Management at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in 2019, where she became a McNair Scholar and received the McNair Scholar of the Year Award for a scholar who exemplifies leadership, service, and academic excellence. She was also competitively selected as a B1G Academic Alliance and Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) fellow at The Ohio State University during the summer of her junior year of college.
After graduating from EMU, she received her master’s degree (2021) and doctoral degree (2026) in Communication with an emphasis in rhetoric and a graduate minor in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where she previously taught courses related to Public Speaking, Visual Politics, Organizational Communication and Diversity, and Public Communication in Everyday Life. Her dissertation, Voices in Solidarity: The Power of Collective Transformation and Organizing in the Black Feminist Social Movement, illuminated Black feminist organizing strategies related to media activism, coalition-building, and collective transformation. At, UIUC, Dr. V received several awards and honors related to her teaching, research, and service, such as the Ebony Excellence Award for Instructor of the Year from the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center (2023), Certificate of Recognition for Black Staff of the Year Runner Up by the Central Black Student Union (2023), the Humanities Without Walls Fellowship, where she received a Certificate of Achievement from the Champaign Urbana Public Health Department in recognition of her academic achievement to health equity, success and justice (2023), the Dianne Pinderhughes Research Grant awarded by the Department of African American Studies in support of her dissertation research (2024) and the Marie Hotchmuth Veteran Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher in the Department of Communication (2026).
In 2025, Dr. V also received the K. Patricia Cross Future Leadership Award for her excellence in teaching, service, and community engagement from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Following this, Dr. V received top paper recognitions for co-authored research manuscripts focused on humanitarian refugee non-profit organizations (HRNOs) from the International Communication Association (2025) and the National Communication Association (2026). Inspired by her dedication to diversifying the professoriate, she also co-founded the Women of Color Section at the National Communication Association in 2024.
Dr. V’s research interests lie in critical organizational communication, social movements, Black and women of color feminism, intersectionality, and sports. She is currently working on projects that further illuminate NABF’s activism, nonprofit organizations’ depictions of refugee women, and Black women’s activism in the WNBA. Her work has been published in Volume 11 of the Eastern Michigan University McNair Scholars Journal, Bloomsbury Press, Quarterly Journal of Speech, along with co-authorship in the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, the Sociology of Sport Journal, and Political Communication.
Dr. V also serves as a faculty teaching fellow at the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, where she was formerly a graduate assistant for instructional design (2023-2026). In her role as a faculty fellow, she contributes to the ongoing development and facilitation of the Teaching and Learning Community courses. You can connect with Dr. V on LinkedIn.
Dr. V’s Podcasts
“National Alliance of Black Feminists,” Fields, V. T., The Academic Minute, Association for American Colleges and Universities, August 2026
“Sense of Service,” Fields, D. & Fields, V. T., Office Hours with John Gardner, John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, June 2024
“Engaged Pedagogy,” Fields, V. T., Cox, N., Center for the Innovation of Teaching and Learning, Teach Talk Listen and Learn podcast, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 2023
Dr. V in the news
"Victoria Fields receives prestigious award recognizing future leaders," Ann Arbor Times (2025)
"EMU alum honored with prestigious 2025 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award," EMU Today (2025)
"Five Graduate Students Honored with K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award," Association for American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) (2025)
Engaged Pedagogy, Teach Talk Listen and Learn Podcast, Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2024)
"Humanities Without Walls connects PhD students with community organizations" (2022)