After her earning her bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University, she worked for several Texas newspapers, including The Houston Post. She then earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Missouri School of Journalism, where she was a faculty news editor at the Columbia Missourian. Her research on international news coverage and foreign policy has been published in the Newspaper Research Journal, International Communication Gazette and the International Journal of Press/Politics. Horvit returned to the School after teaching at Winthrop University, the University of Texas-Arlington and Texas Christian University.