Alexandra Poague: Scholar, Creative, and the Feminist Zine That Earned Academic Recognition

Who Is Alexandra Poague?

Alexandra Poague is a scholar and creative from California who produced Girl Meat, a feminist zine presented at Chapman University’s 2025 Fall Student Scholar Symposium. She graduated cum laude from Arkansas Tech University with a business degree, then shifted into feminist art and cultural studies at Chapman University under Professor Micol Hebron. Her work bridges structured academic training with DIY creative expression — a combination that earned her a spot at a selective university research platform.

Key Takeaways

• Graduated cum laude from Arkansas Tech University with repeated Dean’s List honors
• Produced Girl Meat, a feminist zine, presented at Chapman University’s Fall Student Scholar Symposium in 2025
• Studied under Professor Micol Hebron, an established feminist artist and educator at Chapman
• Her work combines business discipline with feminist creative practice

Quick Facts

Early Life and Performing Arts Background

Growing Up in California

Alexandra Poague grew up in California. Public records and available sources do not document detailed information about her family or childhood beyond her schooling.

Los Alamos High School

At Los Alamos High School, she participated in stage theater. In April 2019, she performed in the school production of Hello, Dolly! at Duane Smith Auditorium. That experience in performance, collaboration, and stage production planted skills she later carried into academic and creative work.

Education

Arkansas Tech University

Alexandra completed her undergraduate degree at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas. She graduated cum laude — a distinction given to students with a cumulative GPA between 3.50 and 3.69 (citation:4). She earned repeated Dean’s List recognition across multiple semesters. Arkansas Tech conferred over 2,200 degrees in the 2017–18 academic year alone, and graduating with honors in a business-focused program requires consistent performance across a structured curriculum.

Chapman University

After Arkansas Tech, Alexandra enrolled at Chapman University in Orange, California. Chapman’s Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences houses programs that emphasize interdisciplinary work across art, communication, and cultural studies. It was a deliberate choice — an environment that could support the kind of work she wanted to build next.

Mentorship Under Micol Hebron

At Chapman, Alexandra worked under Professor Micol Hebron, an Associate Professor of Art whose practice spans video art, performance art, new media, data visualization, gender equity, and social practice (citation:1).

Hebron received her MFA in New Genres from UCLA in 2000. She founded Gallery B-12, a cooperative artist-run space in Hollywood, in 1997. She co-produced the Full Nelson Festival, an international performance art showcase, in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, she founded the LA Art Girls, a collective of over 30 women artists in Los Angeles dedicated to critical discourse and continued creative practice among professional women artists (citation:1).

Hebron has exhibited and lectured throughout the US and Europe, written for Art Forum, Flash Art International, and Arte Contexto, and directed Feminist Summer Camp residencies — think-tank programs for feminist creatives (citation:1). Her recent work includes the Gallery Tally project and The Situation Room, a resource space for the creative community. She also sits on the editorial board of X-Tra magazine (citation:1)(citation:2).

Studying under Hebron connected Alexandra to a specific lineage of feminist art practice that runs from performance art through social practice and into community-based creative work. That mentorship shaped the direction and framing of Girl Meat.

Understanding Girl Meat — A Feminist Zine

What Is a Zine?

A zine (pronounced “zeen,” short for “fanzine”) is a small-circulation, self-published work produced outside mainstream publishing channels. Zines emerged in the 1930s as a way for science-fiction fans to share and discuss content. By the 1960s, they became tools for underground social and political activism. In the 1970s punk scene, zines were handmade publications that reflected the raw energy of their subject matter (citation:7).

In the 1990s, the riot grrrl movement turned zines into a vehicle for feminist expression. They became a way for women to publish their own voices, challenge mainstream media, and build community — outside the gatekeeping of traditional publishing (citation:7).

Today, zine culture is thriving. Resources like Stolen Sharpie Revolution, now in its ninth edition with 46,000 copies in print, continue to guide new zine-makers (citation:8). University art programs and museum spaces increasingly treat zines as legitimate scholarly and creative work (citation:6).

Girl Meat: Content and Purpose

Girl Meat is a self-produced feminist zine that Alexandra created at Chapman University. The project combines abstract visual art with written commentary on young adulthood, gender expectations, and pop culture.

In her project abstract, Alexandra described the zine’s intent directly: it is “constructed to uplift feminist ideals within a campus setting.” The work was designed as a participatory piece — meant to create dialogue among readers rather than present finished ideas for passive consumption.

Her description of Girl Meat sits within a long tradition of feminist zines that use the DIY format to address gender, identity, and cultural pressure. What distinguishes this particular zine is its academic grounding. Alexandra did not just make a zine — she situated it within scholarly frameworks drawn from her coursework and mentorship under Hebron, then submitted it for formal academic evaluation.

Chapman University Fall Student Scholar Symposium

What the Symposium Is

The Fall Student Scholar Symposium is a selective academic platform at Chapman University where undergraduate students present original research and creative work. Projects presented at the symposium are published through Chapman’s Digital Commons, the university’s institutional repository, alongside abstracts and poster presentations from across disciplines (citation:5).

Selection and Presentation

Alexandra submitted Girl Meat to the 2025 Fall Student Scholar Symposium and was selected to present. The symposium panel evaluates submissions for originality and intellectual rigor. Getting selected means the work was vetted by faculty and met the academic standards required for presentation alongside research from fields like biochemistry, engineering, and the social sciences (citation:5).

For a feminist zine to earn a place in that environment, it had to do more than express a point of view. It had to defend its choices under academic scrutiny — the visual language, the editorial framing, the connection to existing feminist discourse. That dual requirement — creative boldness plus scholarly substance — is what set the project apart.

The Business-Art Intersection

Alexandra’s background creates a tension that most people resolve by picking one side. Business programs reward measurable output, structured thinking, and results. Feminist art rewards risk, disruption, and cultural challenge.

She kept both. That decision shows up in how Girl Meat was produced. Making a zine is one thing. Managing the editorial process, coordinating contributors, handling production logistics, and meeting submission deadlines for an academic symposium — that requires project management skills. Her business training provided the infrastructure for the creative work to exist in a finished, presentable form.

Hebron’s mentorship provided the intellectual framework. The combination — operational discipline plus feminist art theory — is what allowed Girl Meat to move beyond personal expression into work that holds up in an academic setting.

Current Work and What’s Next

Alexandra Poague is currently affiliated with Chapman University in Orange, California. Her most recent documented achievement is the presentation of Girl Meat at the 2025 Fall Student Scholar Symposium.

She continues to develop work at the intersection of feminist art, cultural studies, and academic research. No upcoming projects, exhibitions, or publications have been publicly announced as of this writing.

Awards and Recognition

• Cum Laude — Arkansas Tech University
• Dean’s List — Multiple semesters, Arkansas Tech University
• Symposium Selection — Chapman University Fall Student Scholar Symposium, 2025

Personal Life

Alexandra keeps her personal life out of her public profile. No information about relationships, family, or personal background has been made publicly available. Her public presence is limited to her academic and creative work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Alexandra Poague?

Alexandra Poague is a scholar and creative from California. She graduated cum laude from Arkansas Tech University with a business degree and is currently studying feminist art and cultural studies at Chapman University. She is known for producing Girl Meat, a feminist zine presented at Chapman’s 2025 Fall Student Scholar Symposium.

What is Girl Meat?

Girl Meat is a self-produced feminist zine created by Alexandra Poague at Chapman University. It combines abstract visual art with written commentary on young adulthood, gender expectations, and pop culture. The zine was designed to uplift feminist ideals within a campus setting and create dialogue among readers.

What is a feminist zine?

A feminist zine is a self-published, small-circulation work that centers women’s perspectives, gender politics, and cultural critique through a combination of visual art and written commentary. The format has roots in the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s, when women used DIY publishing to create spaces for voices excluded from mainstream media (citation:7).

Who is Micol Hebron?

Micol Hebron is an Associate Professor of Art at Chapman University. She holds an MFA in New Genres from UCLA and works across video art, performance art, new media, data visualization, gender equity, and social practice. She founded the LA Art Girls collective, Gallery B-12, and has directed multiple Feminist Summer Camp residencies (citation:1).

What is the Chapman University Fall Student Scholar Symposium?

It is a selective academic platform where Chapman University undergraduates present original research and creative projects. Submissions are evaluated for originality and intellectual rigor, and accepted work is published through Chapman’s Digital Commons institutional repository (citation:5).

Final Thoughts

Alexandra Poague’s story is not about fame or virality. It is about what happens when someone applies real academic discipline to creative work that most people would keep personal.

She earned honors in a business program. Then she walked into a feminist art space, made a zine that challenged how young women are portrayed, and submitted it to a formal academic platform where it had to hold up alongside scientific research. It did.

The foundation she is building — under Hebron’s mentorship, within Chapman’s interdisciplinary environment, through work like Girl Meat — is early-stage but specific. It points in one direction: work that is both bold and defensible.