Liz McCormick
Eastern Panhandle/Education Reporter/ProducerElizabeth (Liz) McCormick grew up in Charleston, West Virginia and was raised by her grandmother. She graduated from Capital High School in 2010 and graduated from Shepherd University in 2014 where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and New Media with a concentration in Digital Filmmaking and a minor in Theater. Liz is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Strategic Communication with a concentration in Advocacy and Social Impact from American University.
Liz began her work with West Virginia Public Broadcasting as an intern in the main office in Charleston in the summer of 2014. She was later hired as a freelance reporter in July of that year, and then hired full-time in December 2014 as the Eastern Panhandle reporter/producer. In August 2020, Liz added the education beat to her newsroom responsibilities. She is based in Shepherdstown on Shepherd University's campus. (Fun fact: The WVPB Eastern Panhandle office was established in 1992 and is the oldest WVPB news bureau!)
You can hear stories by Liz on West Virginia Morning and Inside Appalachia. You'll also hear her during morning and afternoon local newscasts. Liz covered the West Virginia House of Delegates for three seasons (2015-2017) of WVPB's television program The Legislature Today. Since 2018, Liz has been a production assistant and contributing reporter on the show.
Liz has won awards in various categories of the Virginias Associated Press Broadcasters Association, such as Best Station Promo (2018) and Best Feature or Human Interest Story (2016). In 2016, she won a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Use of Sound for her story "A Civil War Christmas." In 2018, Liz was a recipient of Shepherd University's inaugural Finest Under 40 Alumni award.
In 2021, Liz was part of the team that won a National Edward R. Murrow for Excellence in Video. She contributed reporting on the story, "Despite Increasing Demand, Some W.Va. Apple Farmers Struggle." The story was a collaborative effort with reporter Roxy Todd and members of the WVPB Video Production team.
Liz is a lover of music and theater. She has performed in community theater productions since she was a young girl, and studied voice for 14 years. Liz attended Interlochen: Center for the Arts summer camp in Michigan to study musical theater in 2004 and film production in 2009. In 2007, Liz was the West Virginia State Champion of the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest and one of the 12 national finalists that year in Washington, D.C.
During her college years, Liz was involved in choir ensembles and theatrical productions in Shepherd University's Music Department. She studied abroad in Pau, France in the summer of 2012, and she completed an internship with the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Liz is also a video game enthusiast who loves Nintendo and Pokémon.
You can connect with Liz via email at emccormick@wvpublic.org or on Twitter @LizMcCormickWV
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Residents in several West Virginia counties hurt by the declining coal industry will soon have the option to receive training in cybersecurity work. Glenville State College this week received more than $1.4 million from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to develop a Cybersecurity and Safety Workforce Development Initiative. -
The founder of one of the country’s top theater festivals for new plays is retiring. Ed Herendeen has been the producing director for the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia for the past 30 years.
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The delta variant of COVID-19 continues to overwhelm West Virginia K-12 education as virus numbers in schools have only risen in recent weeks.
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Prospective college students and their families around the state can attend a new series of financial aid webinars aimed at helping them navigate the process of seeking a degree. More than $100 million is available in financial aid annually in West Virginia, and state officials say the webinars can help students better understand what is available to them.
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As the Delta COVID-19 variant continues to surge around the country, masking policies in schools were major points of discussion at the September West Virginia Board of Education meeting.
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The West Virginia Board of Education announced this week that Brian Casto of Cabell County is the 2022 West Virginia Teacher of the Year.
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Eighth graders in West Virginia are required to take West Virginia Studies, and coal has shaped many facets of our state’s economy and environment. But as employment in the industry continues to decline, how are teachers and students discussing coal in classrooms today?
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Gov. Jim Justice announced in a press conference Friday that 30 of the state’s 55 county school systems are now requiring masking of students, faculty and staff regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.
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For our series finale, we hear from a handful of elementary students from Berkeley and Jefferson counties who reached out to us to share their experiences during the pandemic.
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As West Virginia counties return to school, the debate over masks in classrooms continues. Last week, Kanawha County Schools -- home of the state’s capital city -- was the first school system to return for the fall. The county was also the first district to issue a masking mandate for all students in pre-K-5th grade.
