Susan Douglas

Susan Douglas grew up in New Jersey, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Elmira college and then earned her MA and Ph.D. in American Civilization at Brown University. After a brief stint as an historian at the Smithsonian, she began teaching media studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. In 1996 she joined the faculty of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. Her research has focused on two broad areas, the history of broadcasting with an emphasis on radio, and the representation of women in the media. She is the author of seven books, including Where the Girls Are, which was named one of the top ten books of 1994 by Entertainment Weekly and NPR, her prize-winning Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination, Enlightened Sexism and In Our Prime. She has appeared on mutiple radio and television shows including Fresh Air, All Things Considered, the Today Show, and the Oprah Winfrey Show, among others. She served on the Board of the George Foster Peabody Awards for six year and served as its Chair in 2010. Her daughter works in public health in Boston, and she lives with her husband TR Durham, who owns a critically acclaimed smoed salmon shop in Ann Arbor.