The Eagle’s advisory board has elected Haley Samsel, The Eagle’s current managing editor for news, as its editor-in-chief for the 2018-2019 year.
As managing editor for news, Samsel helped lead The Eagle’s coverage of a hate crime on American University’s campus in May 2017. Since then, Samsel has supervised several in-depth investigations, including one on an underground fraternity and another on six female professors accusing the provost of discrimination. In her three years on staff, she has mentored several staff members across The Eagle’s newsroom.
Prior to her appointment as managing editor for news, Samsel served as The Eagle’s managing editor for online for three semesters. In that role, Samsel was The Eagle’s voice on social media, which included Facebook and Twitter. Under her leadership, The Eagle's Facebook likes grew by 17 percent and Twitter followers grew by 8 percent. Her focus helped The Eagle grow its page views by 35.4 percent during the 2016-17 school year as compared to 2015-2016.
“She has been essential in helping The Eagle expand its online reach, and I cannot wait to see how she continues to lead this effort in her role as editor-in-chief,” Shannon Scovel, the paper’s 2015-2016 editor, said.
Outside of The Eagle, Samsel is the Texas Tribune’s D.C. reporting fellow, where she covers the Texas Congressional delegation and supports their team's D.C. bureau chief. During the fall of 2017, she interned at NPR’s Education Desk, where she wrote about standardized testing and the impact of natural disasters on schools. Prior to that, she was a digital producer at USA TODAY College.
Samsel is a junior from Plano, Texas majoring in print journalism and international relations. She will assume the role of editor-in-chief in late April.
