Frederick Turner

Bio

Fred Turner’s research and teaching focus on media technology and cultural change. He is especially interested in the ways that emerging media have helped shape American life since World War II.

Turner is the author of three books: The Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties; From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network and the Rise of Digital Utopianism; and Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory. His essays have tackled topics ranging from the rise of reality crime television to the role of the Burning Man festival in contemporary new media industries. They are available here: fredturner.stanford.edu/essays/.

Turner’s research has received a number of academic awards and has been featured in publications ranging from Science and the New York Times to Ten Zen Monkeys. It has also been translated into French, Spanish, German, Polish and Chinese.

Turner is also the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. Before joining the faculty at Stanford, Turner taught Communication at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also worked as a freelance journalist for ten years, writing for the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, the Boston Phoenix, and the Pacific News Service.

Turner earned his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of California, San Diego. He has also earned a B.A. in English and American Literature from Brown University and an M.A. in English from Columbia University.

Academic Appointments

• Professor, Communication
• Professor (By courtesy), Art & Art History
• Professor (By courtesy), History
• Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

Administrative Appointments

• Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
• Associate Professor (by courtesy), Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - 2009)
• Lecturer in Communication, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1992 - 2002)
• Visiting Instructor in Communication, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990 - 1999)
• Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990 - 1994)
• Instructor, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1989 - 2000)
• Instructor, Division of Continuing Education, Harvard University (1989 - 1996)
• Lecturer, College of Communication, Department of Film and Television, Boston University (1995 - 1996)
• Instructor, Department of English and English Language Center, Northeastern University (1987 - 1992)
• Fellowship, Columbia University (1984 - 1985)
• Dissertation Fellowship, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego (2001 - 2001)
• Leonore Annenberg and Wallis Annenberg Fellow in Communication, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University (2007 - 2008)
• Fellow, National Forum on the Future of Liberal Education, The Teagle Foundation (2009 - 2012)
• Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang University Fellow, Stanford University (2012 - 2017)
• Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang University Fellow, Stanford University (2012 - 2017)
• Pre-doctoral Humanities Fellowship, University of California, San Diego (1996 - 2000)
• Stanford University Fellow, Stanford University (2013 - 2015)

Honors & Awards

• Katherine Singer Kovács Award, Society for Cinema and Media Studies (2013)
• Media@McGill Beaverbrook Visiting Scholar, Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2013)
• The CITASA Book Award Special Mention, CITASA (2008)
• Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for Excellence, Association of American Publishers (2007)
• The James W. Carey Media Research Award, Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (2007)
• The Lewis Mumford Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Technics, Media Ecology Association (2007)
• Outstanding Paper Award, Communication and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association (2006)
• Winner, National Student Essay Contest, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (2001)
• Nominated for a Faculty Appreciation Award, Sloan School of Management, MIT (2000)
• The Bennett Cerf Prize, Columbia University (1985)
• The Kim Ann Arstark Prize in Poetry, Brown University (1984)
• The Preston Gurney Literary Prize, Brown University (1984)
• The Ratcliffe Hicks Premium, Brown University (1984)
• The Kim Ann Arstark Prize in Poetry, Brown University (1983)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Symbolic Systems, Stanford University
• Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University
• Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Urban Studies, Stanford University
• Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford University
• Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in American Studies, Stanford University
• Member, Society for Social Studies of Science
• Member, Society for Cinema and Media Studies
• Member, Society for the History of Technology
• Member, IT History Society
• Member, International Communication Association
• Member, American Sociological Association
• Member, Organization of American Historians
• Award Judge, CITASA Student Paper Award Committee (2013 - 2013)
• Publication Reviewer, Political Studies (2013 - 2013)
• Publication Reviewer, International Journal of Communication (2013 - 2013)
• Member, External Advisory Board, Science & Justice Research Center, University of California, Santa Cruz (2012 - Present)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, Dutch Council on the Humanities (2012 - 2012)
• Contributing Editor, Technology and Culture, Johns Hopkins University Press (2011 - Present)
• Director, Program in Science, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford University (2011 - Present)
• Member, Editorial Board, Information and Culture: A Journal of History, University of Texas Press (2011 - Present)
• Senior Editor, Public Culture, Duke University Press (2011 - Present)
• Member, Curriculum Review Committee, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University (2011 - 2012)
• Publication Reviewer, BOOM (2011 - 2011)
• Publication Reviewer, International Journal of Communication (2011 - 2011)
• Publication Reviewer, Television and New Media (2011 - 2011)
• Publication Reviewer, Transformative Works and Cultures (2011 - 2011)
• Publication Reviewer, American Behavioral Scientist (2011 - 2011)
• Member, Journalism Advisory Committee, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
• Frontiers of New Media Advisory Council, University of Utah (2010 - 2012)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, MIT Press (2010 - 2010)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Polity Press (2010 - 2010)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2010 - 2010)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2010 - 2010)
• Member, Faculty Search Committees, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
• Publication Reviewer, Journal of American History (2010 - 2010)
• Publication Reviewer, American Behavioral Scientist (2010 - 2010)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, European Research Council (2009 - 2013)
• Member, Advisory Board, The Web History Center, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana (2009 - 2012)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Duke University Press (2009 - 2009)
• Member, Juror, Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Stanford University (2009 - 2009)
• Publication Reviewer, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (2009 - 2009)
• Director, Undergraduate Studies, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2008 - Present)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (2008 - 2012)
• Member, Governance Board, Program in Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University (2008 - 2011)
• Member, Governance Board, Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Stanford University (2008 - 2010)
• Publication Reviewer, Political Communication (2008 - 2010)
• Award Judge, CITASA Student Paper Award Committee (2008 - 2008)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Duke University Press (2008 - 2008)
• Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Routledge (2008 - 2008)
• Publication Reviewer, Media History (2008 - 2008)
• Publication Reviewer, Television and New Media (2008 - 2008)
• Member, Advisory Board, Buckminster Fuller Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (2007 - 2008)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Review, Harvard University Press (2007 - 2007)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Palgrave Macmillan (2007 - 2007)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, MIT Press (2007 - 2007)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Princeton University Press (2007 - 2007)
• Member, Editorial Review Board, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, special issue on e-infrastructure (2007 - 2007)
• Publication Reviewer, The Communication Review (2007 - 2007)
• Publication Reviewer, Theory and Society (2007 - 2007)
• Publication Reviewer, Technology and Culture (2006 - 2010)
• Member, Faculty Advisory Board, Stanford Digital Repository, Stanford University Libraries (2006 - 2007)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, University Press of Kansas (2006 - 2006)
• Member, Faculty Search Committees, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2006 - 2006)
• Publication Reviewer, Social Forces (2006 - 2006)
• Member, Editorial Board, Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media (2005 - Present)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, University of Chicago Press (2005 - 2009)
• Publication Reviewer, Games and Culture (2005 - 2008)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, National Science Foundation, Program in History and Philosophy of Science, Engineering and Technology (2005 - 2005)
• Member, Faculty Search Committees, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2005 - 2005)
• Publication Reviewer, Current Anthropology (2005 - 2005)
• Publication Reviewer, Communication Theory (2005 - 2005)
• Publication Reviewer, The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, MIT Press (2005 - 2005)
• Publication Reviewer, Social Studies of Science (2005 - 2005)
• Member, Graduate Studies Curriculum Committee, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2004 - Present)
• Member, Undergraduate Studies Curriculum Committee, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2004 - Present)
• Member of the Faculty, Digital Humanities Concentration, Inter-Departmental Humanities Major, Stanford University (2004 - 2008)
• Director, Undergraduate Studies, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2004 - 2007)
• Member, Dean’s Committee to Review the Master’s Program in Journalism, Stanford University (2004 - 2005)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Oxford University Press (2004 - 2004)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, University Press of Kansas (2004 - 2004)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, National Science Foundation, Science, Technology, and Society Program (2004 - 2004)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, Florida State University (2004 - 2004)
• Publication Reviewer, Social Studies of Science (2004 - 2004)
• Publication Reviewer, The Information Society (2004 - 2004)
• Member, Admissions Committee, Ph.D. Program, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
• Member, Governance Board, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
• Member, Admissions Committee, Journalism Master’s Program, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
• Member, Governance Board, American Studies Program, Stanford University (2003 - Present)
• Publication Reviewer, New Media and Society (2003 - 2012)
• Member, Governance Board, Program in Writing and Rhetoric, Stanford University (2003 - 2007)
• Member, Faculty Board, Stanford Humanities Lab, Stanford University (2003 - 2005)
• Member, Departmental Committee on Computing, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - 2005)
• Director, Co-Terminal Master’s Degree Program in Media Studies, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - 2004)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2003 - 2003)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2003 - 2003)
• Member, Rebele Fellowship Committee, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - 2003)
• Member, Faculty Search Committees, Department of Communication, Stanford University (2003 - 2003)
• Book Manuscript and Proposal Reviewer, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (2002 - 2002)
• Grant and Fellowship Reviewer, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2002 - 2002)
• Master’s Thesis advisor, Comparative Media Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001 - 2003)
• MBA Student Cohort Advisor, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001 - 2001)
• Member, Faculty Representative, Merit Scholarship Committee, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001 - 2001)
• Member, Graduate Representative, search committees, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego (1998 - 1999)
• Member, Graduate Representative, Graduate Affairs Committee, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego (1997 - 1998)
• Assistant Editor, The Communication Review. New York and Amsterdam (1996 - 1997)
• Chair, Communication Department, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1996 - 1996)
• Research Affiliate, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1994 - 1996)

Program Affiliations

• American Studies
• Modern Thought and Literature
• Program in History & Philosophy of Science
• Science, Technology and Society
• Symbolic Systems Program

Professional Education

• Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, Communication (2002)
• M.A., Columbia University, English and American Literature (1985)
• B.A, Brown University, Magna Cum Laude, in English and American Literature (1984)