معرفی
Traci Zimmerman is a Professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University (JMU), where she has been since 2000. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Case Western Reserve University (2004), an M.S.J. in Intellectual Property Law from Seton Hall Law (2017), and both her M.A. (1994) and B.A. (1992) in English from JMU.
Her research focuses on intellectual property law, particularly fair use, open access, and digital literacies. She critically examines the intersection of technology, privacy, and identity in the 'post-human' era, exploring how networked and computer-mediated environments reshape human concepts like empathy, accountability, and memory. Zimmerman has also written extensively on academic labor, including the undervalued contributions of conference hosting and institutional leadership.
Her publications span peer-reviewed journals, edited volumes, and web-based analyses, often addressing landmark legal cases (e.g., Golan v. Holder, the Aaron Swartz case) and their implications for creators, educators, and policymakers. Her work frequently bridges academic discourse with practical advocacy, such as critiques of Turnitin.com’s practices and explorations of Creative Commons’ impact on collaborative creativity.
As Dean, Zimmerman oversees the College of Arts and Letters, fostering interdisciplinary initiatives that align with her scholarly focus on rhetoric, writing, and the evolving role of human agency in a technologically mediated world.
