Vicki Michaelis
About: The director of Grady Sports, Professor Michaelis teaches classes in the college’s Sports Media Certificate program.
Education
M.S., Journalism, Northwestern University
B.S., Journalism, Northwestern University
Research Interests and Activities
Professor Michaelis created the Grady Sports Bureau to give students real-world experience in covering high school, college, professional and Olympic sports. Grady Sports students have covered the 2018 and 2016 Olympics, the 2018 Warrior Games, the 2016 Paralympics and the 2013 Final Four for professional media outlets. Students also produce live broadcasts of local high school games for the NFHS Network and write stories about UGA and high school sports for newspapers across Georgia.
Professor Michaelis also oversees the UGA-Grady High School Sports Broadcast Program, which trains high school students and advisors in underrepresented and/or underserved communities across Georgia to produce live broadcasts of their school’s sports events. The program, seeded by a New Approaches to Promote Diversity and Inclusion Grant awarded by the UGA President’s office, donates broadcast equipment to the schools and expose the students to college and career opportunities in sports broadcast and production.
Teaching Specialties
Sports media skills, including deadline game coverage, multi-platform storytelling, live-event and studio-show broadcasting, social media, media relations, and enterprise reporting and writing. Also topics involving the interplay of sports and society, politics and culture.
Experience
Vicki Michaelis joined the Grady College faculty in Aug. 2012 after 21 years as a sports journalist, the last 12 as the lead Olympics reporter for USA Today. She also covered the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL and major college sports as USA Today’s Denver bureau sports writer. She was part of the newspaper’s transformation in the digital age, expanding her skills as USA Today established itself on digital, mobile and video platforms. Prior to joining USA Today, she spent five years at The Denver Post, where her beats included University of Colorado football and the Denver Nuggets. She began her career at The Palm Beach Post, gaining beat experience in high school sports, major college sports, tennis and the NBA. From 1997-2001, she taught sports reporting as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado. She is a past president and chairperson of the Association for Women in Sports Media.
