Susan Murray

Susan Murray is a Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University's Steinhardt School. Her research focuses on television's role in post-war technology, culture, and industry, with particular attention to color television history, medical education through broadcast media, and surveillance technologies. She is currently writing a book about closed-circuit television's development and its impact on consumer society and digital surveillance.

Her work has been supported by major grants including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the NYU Center for the Humanities. Key publications include Bright Signals: A History of Color Television (2018) and Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2004). Murray has held visiting fellowships and lectures internationally on media history and technology.

• Affiliations: NYU Steinhardt School, NYU Center for the Humanities
• Research Interests: Media technology, broadcast history, medical television, surveillance infrastructure

Her recent research explores how closed-circuit television systems served as foundational infrastructure for automation across medicine, education, and the military, linking mid-20th century innovations to contemporary digital surveillance practices.

Awards:

• 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship
• 2019 Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award (Society for Cinema and Media Studies)
• 2019 Michael Nelson Book Prize (International Association for Media and History)

Teaching: Courses include Media Studies Methodologies, Mediating the Real, and Amateur Media. She emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches linking technological developments with cultural and social contexts.