Mary Vavrus

Mary Vavrus is a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota. She holds affiliate roles in the Critical Feminist and Sexuality Studies program and the Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature Department. Her research focuses on news media representations of gender, feminism, postfeminism, and media-military intersections, with a current book project exploring gender, media, and militarism. She has authored Postfeminist News: Political Women in Media Culture, which earned the NCA Diamond Anniversary Award in 2003. Her work appears in journals such as Critical Studies in Mass Communication and Feminist Media Studies.

Dr. Vavrus teaches graduate courses including political economy of media culture, feminist media studies, qualitative methods, media and war, and feminist cultural studies. She serves on editorial boards for five scholarly journals and actively participates in peer review. Her expertise spans feminist theory, media activism, and mediated masculinity, contributing to critical discourse on gender dynamics in media and politics.