Recent PhDs

Lesley Stevenson (2026)

Pathways to Power in Media Industries: Theorizing the ‘Entry-Level Elite’
University of Texas- Austin

Taylore Woodhouse (2025)

Playing on the Digital Edge: Esports, Technology Access, and Black Gaming Cultures
University of Georgia

Sarah Edwards (2025)

Laboring for Legitimacy: Digital Labor, Platformized Precarity, and Ambivalent Resistance in the Influencer Industry
North Central College

Ben Pettis (2025)

Becoming Users: Layers of People, Technology, and Power on the Internet
University of Richmond

Daphne Gershon (2024)

Conspicuous Dysfunction: Televisual Portrayals of Sex and Sexuality in the Networked Era
Florida Atlantic University

Tom Welch (2024)

Free Play: Games, Labor, and the Negotiation of Value on the Internet

Maureen Mauk (2023)

The Grown-Ups in the Room: US Television Standards and Practices and Parental Controls from the Dial to the Digital
Crunchyroll

Laura Schumacher (2023)

How to Be a Feminist: Media, Gender, and Age in the Era of Instructional Feminism

Anthony Twarog (2023)

The How-To Screenwriting Industry: Reverse Encouragement, Gatekeeper Lore, and the Business of Professionalization

Lauren Wilks (2023)

“I’m Rooting for Everybody Black”: Black Feminine Resilience and Celebrity in US Media
Trinity University

Susan Noh (2022)

Global Media Streams: Cosmopolitan Streaming Platforms and the Contemporary Ecosystem of Anime Distribution
University of Georgia

Yizhou (Joe) Xu (2022)

Involution Nation: Passion, Place and Precarity in the Chinese Mobile Tech Industry
Old Dominion University

Jacob Mertens (2022)

Gaming the System: Digital Revisionism and the Video Game Console Industry
Manchester University

Wan-Jun Lu (2021)

Sites of Confluence: Curating Cosmopolitanism in the Digital Age
University of San Francisco

Nicholas Benson (2019)

Create, Reboot, Repeat: Franchise Management and Textual Evolution in the Cultural Industries
State University of New York at Oneonta

Caroline Leader (2019)

Branding the Disney Princess: Femininity, Family, and Franchising
Avanade

Camilo Cesar Diaz Pino (2018)

At the Center of the Periphery: Remediating Anime to and through Mexico City
West Chester University

Christopher Cwynar (2017)

Waves of Renewal: English-Language North American Public Service Radio from Television to Mobile Media
Trent University

Taylor Miller (2017)

Syndicated Queerness: Television Talk Shows, Rerun Syndication, and the Serials of Norman Lear
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Anthony Tran (2017)

Digital Diasporic Cultures and Everyday Media: the Vietnamese diaspora in Vancouver, Canada
Boston College

Andrew Zolides (2017)

Cult of Personalities: the Influence Economy of Digital Culture
Xavier University

Andrew Bottomley (2016)

Internet Radio: A History of a Medium in Transition
State University of New York at Oneonta

Lindsay Hogan (2016)

Producing (Be)Tween Stars and Screens: Stardom and Youth Media Cultures
Boston College

Sarah Murray (2016)

Get Smarter: The Wearables, Carriables, and Shareables of Digital Self-Actualization
University of Michigan

Eleanor Patterson (2016)

Radio Redux: The Persistence of Soundwork in the Post-Network Era
Auburn University

Alyxandra Vesey (2016)

A Synchronous Process: Musicians’ Labor and Identity as Television Industry Practice
University of Alabama

Evan Elkins (2015)

Regional Lockout: Geographic Restrictions, Digital Entertainment Platforms, and Global Cultural Difference
Colorado State University

Kit Hughes (2015)

Corporate Channels: How American Business and Industry Made Television Useful
Colorado State University

Myles McNutt (2015)

Location, Relocation, Dislocation: Television’s Spatial Capital
Old Dominion University