Mace & Crown Alumni

Mace & Crown is ODU’s student news organization. Every semester we produce a magazine written by – and for – the students of ODU. Originally founded as the High Hat in 1930, the newspaper because the Mace & Crown in 1961. In 2017 the Mace & Crown moved from a weekly newspaper to a magazine. Our 91 year legacy has yielded many prominent alumni, and many of our alumni go on to have successful careers in journalism.

Adrienne Mayfield, ’14

Editor in Chief

After Adrienne’s graduation in 2014, she went on to work for the Daily Press, Southside Daily, and WAVY-TV 10. An Emmy-nominated broadcast journalist, Adrienne is currently the Executive Producer of Investigations and Special Projects at WAVY-TV 10. She does long-term investigative journalism as well as data journalism, and oversees the investigative team. She is also trained in database creation and analysis, and specializes in mining information from public records.

Amy Poulter, ’16

Arts and Entertainment Editor, Editor in Chief

Amy began as a staff writer for the Mace & Crown in 2014, worked her way up to Arts and Entertainment Editor, and was then promoted to Editor in Chief. Since her graduation, Amy has worked as a Multimedia Journalist at Southside Daily, and as a Digital Breaking News Reporter and Arts and Entertainment Writer at The Virginian-Pilot. She is currently a Senior Producer at Yahoo Finance, where she does newswriting, copyediting, and newsletter programming.

Sean Davis, ’18

News Editor, Copy Editor and Editor in Chief

After Sean’s time at the Mace & Crown, he went on to work for The Daily Progress and then the USA Today Network. In July of 2022 he began working at WAVY-TV 10 as Associate Producer of Investigations and Special Projects.

Victoria Tillinghast, ’21

News Editor

Victoria joined the Mace & Crown in her senior year, and worked as the News Editor during the Fall 2021 semester. After her graduation, Victoria went on to work as a writer at iSportsman, before she became a Media Strategist at Applied Sciences and Information Systems, Inc. She currently works as a writer, editor, and content creator.

Natalie Hockaday, ’21

News Editor and Editor in Chief

Natalie worked for the Mace & Crown for over 2 years, starting as the News Editor and graduating as the Editor in Chief in December of 2021. After her graduation, she worked at The Washington Informer as a reporter before becoming a Digital Editor and Producer at WUSA-TV in Washington D.C. She helps to create multi-media content and write for wusa9.com

Jeff Cunningham, ’06

Sports Writer & Sports Editor

Jeff Cunningham was a sports writer for the Mace & Crown from 2002-06, and he also served as sports editor and columnist. While at ODU, he also served as sports director, show host and play-by-play voice for WODU Studios. Since graduating with a B.S. in Communication (Mass Media), he has served as a freelance sports writer for the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.), Assistant Director of Sports Information at Hampton University, Director of Strategic Communications for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), and he now serves as Senior Copywriter and Content Strategist at ODU.