Stephanie Hughes

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Stephanie Hughes is a senior reporter at Marketplace. She’s focused on education and the economy, and lives in Brooklyn.

She's reported on topics including the effectiveness of technology used by schools to prevent violence, startups that translate global climate data for homebuyers, and why theater majors are getting jobs writing for chatbots.

Previously, she worked as a producer for Bloomberg, where she covered finance, technology, and economics. Before that, she worked as the senior producer for “Maryland Morning,” broadcast on WYPR, the NPR affiliate in Baltimore. She’s also reported for other media outlets, including NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “The Takeaway,” and Salon.

At WYPR, she helped produce the year-long, multi-platform series “The Lines Between Us,” which won a 2014 duPont-Columbia Award. She’s also interested in using crowdsourcing to create online projects, such as this interactive map of flags around Maryland, made from listener contributions.

A native of southern Delaware, Stephanie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in communications, studying at the Annenberg School. Before she found her way to radio, she worked in the children’s division of the publishing house Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Latest Stories (507)

After years of working from home, how has Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day evolved?

Apr 29, 2022
It started in the early '90s as a way to expose girls to their parents' professions. Boys are included now, too, and some say, it needs to broaden its approach even further.
Some parents began taking their children to work nearly 30 years ago to give them a firsthand look at their professions.
Tim Boyle/Newsmakers via Getty Images

Inflation hits teachers hard

Apr 27, 2022
Their salaries, most negotiated for years at a time, haven't kept up with sharply rising prices.
Many educators are feeling squeezed by inflation, which is upping the cost of classroom supplies and other expenses.
Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Biden administration expands Pell Grant program for incarcerated students

Apr 26, 2022
It's a shift from nearly three decades ago, when Congress banned incarcerated people from having access to Pell Grants.
“This gives students who are in prison an opportunity to actually pay tuition at these programs that are going to prepare them to return to life, to find a job and to move on,” says James Kvaal, undersecretary of the Department of Education, about the Second Chance Pell program. Above, inmates read in the library at the York Correctional Institution in Connecticut in 2016.
John Moore/Getty Images

The failure of CNN+ could put a damper on big news organizations' attempts to innovate

Apr 25, 2022
The cable giant reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a service that will go dark after just a month online.
The cancellation of CNN's streaming platform CNN+ could have chilling effects on news innovation, both internally and at other outlets.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The demise of CNN+ is a missed opportunity for the future of video news

Apr 22, 2022
Broadcasters are navigating the transition from an audience raised on cable to an audience raised on TikTok.
CNN pulled the plug on its new streaming operation, CNN+. That's deprived the news industry of an opportunity to see what streamed television news could look like.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Blackstone sees opportunity in student housing

Apr 21, 2022
The investment firm is buying American Campus Communities, the largest developer, owner, and manager of student housing in the U.S.
Competition between student housing providers can be fierce.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

More brands want unique synthetic voices. How do the actors providing them maintain control?

Apr 19, 2022
As the demand for vocal signatures grows, some platforms are giving actors a say in how their voices are used.
Brands are looking for a distinct digital voice to use with artificial intelligence devices, like the Amazon Echo Dot above.
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

Millions of college students are eligible for tax credits. But they have to file for them.

Apr 14, 2022
Students may be entitled to additional money if they're not claimed as dependents.
Students at the University of California, Berkeley. College students may be entitled to tax benefits and pandemic relief payments.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Declining enrollment affects how public schools balance budgets

Apr 13, 2022
It can be challenging to figure out whether pandemic-related changes will end up being permanent.
The recipient school districts are now considering how to use their donations, whether on improvements like a new gym or investments like college scholarship funds.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Tater tot casserole without tater tots? Rising costs stress school lunch programs.

Apr 11, 2022
Schools provide meals to millions of kids each day, and they're closely watching food inflation.
During the pandemic, most schools were able to offer free lunches under a federal waiver. But that waiver's set to expire this summer.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images