Vikki is a Professor in the School of Communication, and Fletcher Jones Endowed Chair in Free Speech, at Chapman University. She is a leading scholar on teen and young adult development, technology access and engagement, and equitable access to civic engagement and learning opportunities. She works with young people, parents, educators, policymakers and content creators to ensure that high-quality evidence can drive meaningful social change.

Her work informed the Federal Communications Commission changing its federal policies to increase national broadband access and PBS Kids redesigning their digital content to be fully accessible for children without consistent high-speed internet. Her reports on digital equity, published in partnership with New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, have also enabled schools and communities to meet the needs of under-connected kids and families. She is also author of four books and more than fifty journal articles, book chapters, and policy reports, and her work has been supported by funders including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Spencer Foundation.

Vikki serves as an advisor to PBSKids, Sesame Workshop, and on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Families Learning. She has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation and Senior Research Scientist at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (both in NYC), Editor of Journal of Children and Media, and Professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. She earned her BA at UCLA and her PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at USC.

Vikki grew up in Johannesburg through the waning days of apartheid and birth of democracy in South Africa. Those early experiences inspire her commitment to this generation of young people having the best possible opportunities to become civically and civilly capable, so that they can contribute to ensuring a thriving and pluralistic American democracy.

Outside of Or Initiative and her teaching at Chapman, Vikki loves exploring SoCal with her wonderful husband, two fantastic sons and slightly unhinged dog. Otherwise, she’s probably cooking, running, or plotting another travel adventure.