Dr. Stephanie Dean - University of Montevallo

Dr. Stephanie Dean
Assistant Professor of Mass Communication & 2020-21 Vacca Chair of Liberal Arts
Strong Hall 133
(205) 665-6620
sdean4@montevallo.edu

Dr. Stephanie Dean earned her M.A and Ph.D. in computer mediated communications from HUMLab at Umea University in Sweden. Dean’s dissertation, Beyond the Blog (2013), examines how disperse websites build and maintain community online. Her scholarly work focuses on how digital technologies and immersive media are used to align with or against discourses that form our identities, policies, and understandings of culture(s). Currently, Dean is exploring gender, race and social identity in virtual and augmented reality narratives.

Before coming to the University of Montevallo, Dean developed and co-directed the Immersive Storytelling Lab at Middle Tennessee State University, as well as acted as faculty advisor for the MTSU esports varsity league. In 2019, Dean was recognized at Middle Tennessee State University for outstanding use of technology in the classroom.

When Dean isn’t teaching courses in digital sociology, media management, script writing, or 360/VR video production, you can find her exploring the southeast by camper conversion, running through caverns, or racing the occasional reindeer.