University of Minnesota
Communication Studies
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Dr Mary D Vavrus

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Mary Douglas Vavrus

Mary Vavrus

612-624-5515
Communication Studies 237 Ford Hall
Curriculum Vitae

Department Affiliations

Narrative

Dr. Vavrus' research interests include news media representations of gender, feminism, and postfeminism. She is currently working on a book, tentatively titled Gendered Brands: Identity and the New Terrain of Media Politics.

She is the author of Postfeminist News: Political Women in Media Culture, which won the NCA's 2003 Diamond Anniversary Award. This award recognizes the most outstanding scholarly book published during the previous two years. She is co-editor of a collection of essays, and her research has appeared in such journals as Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Political Communication, Feminist Media Studies, and Women's Studies in Communication. She also serves on the editorial boards and as referee for several scholarly journals.

Dr. Vavrus is also a member of the graduate faculty of the Feminist Studies program and teaches graduate courses including political economy of media culture, feminist media studies, qualitative methods in media studies, and feminist cultural studies and electoral politics.


Specialties

  • feminist theory
  • media studies
  • mediated masculinity
  • postfeminist representations
  • political economy of media
  • media coverage of political women
  • media activism
  • gender and media
  • American Cultural Studies

Publications

  • Postfeminst News: Political Women in Media Culture. Vavrus, Mary D, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
  • Domesticating patriarchy: Hegemonic masculinity and television's 'Mr. Mom'. Vavrus, Mary D, 2002.
  • American Cultural Studies. Vavrus, Mary D, Eds. C.A Warren & M.D. Vavrus, University of Illinois Press, 2002.
  • Working the Senate from the Outside In: A Case study in the Mediated Construction of a Feminist Political Campaign. Vavrus, Mary D, 1998.
  • From Women of the Year to 'Soccer Moms': The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Women. Vavrus, Mary D, 2000.
  • Putting Ally on Trial: Contesting Postfeminism in Popular Culture. Vavrus, Mary D, 2000.
  • Opting Out Moms in the News: Selling New Traditionalism in the New Millennium: Vavrus, Mary D, Feminist Media Studies, 7 47-63, 2007.
  • The Politics of NASCAR Dads: Branded Media Paternity: Vavrus, Mary D, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 24 245-261, 2007.

Research Activities

  • Postfeminism Redux: Presidential and Media Politics, 2004: journal article, Summer 2004 - Summer 2005
  • Gendered Brands: Identity and the New Terrain of Media Politics: book research, Fall 2004 - Fall 2006

Professional Activities

  • Member, Women's Studies Assembly, University of Minnesota: 1998 - present
  • Member, Center for Advanced Feminist Studies, University of Minnesota: 1998 - present
  • Member, Women's Studies Graduate Faculty, University of Minnesota
  • Chair, American Studies Division, National Communication Association: 1998 - 2001
  • Chair, Communication Studies Student Awards Committee, University of Minnesota: 1998
  • Member, International Communication Association
  • Member, National Communication Association
  • Director of Graduate Studies: May, 2008

Outreach Activities

  • Feminism and the Enduring Popularity of SEX AND THE CITY: Interview--FOX 9 News, February 20, 2004
  • Motherhood in Media Today: Interview--Minnesota Public Radio, May 11, 2008
  • Marketing and Menstrual Drugs: Interview--salon.com, March, 2008

Awards

  • Departmental Fellowship, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, 1995 - 1996
  • Special Project Grant, Women's Studies Department, Univeristy of Illinois, 1996
  • Research on Gender in Cultural and Media Studies Fellowship, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, 1996
  • "Where the Sexual and the Electoral Meet: Television in the Living-Room Rolis," Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship, University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, 2001 - 2002
  • Diamond Anniversary Book Award, National Communication Association, November 2003

Courses Taught

  • COMM 8210 - The Politics of Political Women in the News
  • Spch 5261 - Political Economy of Media Culture
  • Spch 3211 - Introduction to U.S. Electronic Media
  • COMM 8210 - Women in/and Media Culture
  • COMM 8210 - Qualitative Resaerch Methods in Media Studies
  • COMM 4263 - Feminist Media Studies
  • COMM 1907/3110 - Media Literacy: Decoding Media Images and Messages
  • COMM 1907--Media and War
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