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Fred Turner
Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication, Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang University Fellow in Undergraduate Education and Professor, by courtesy, of Art and Art History and of History
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)
Concentration Advising in:
Academic Appointments
Professor, Communication
Professor (By courtesy), Art & Art History
Professor (By courtesy), History
Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
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 American Studies, Stanford University
Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Stanford University
Affiliated Faculty Member, Program in Urban Studies, Stanford University
Member, American Sociological Association
Member, IT History Society
Member, Society for the History of Technology
Member, Society for Cinema and Media Studies
Member, International Communication Association
Honors & Awards
Donald Andrews Whittier Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Center (2022-2023)
Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2022-2023)
Eugene S. Ferguson Prize, Society for the History of Technology (2021)
LeBoff Distinguished Visiting Scholar, New York University (2016)
Fellow, Digital Cultures Research Laboratory, Leuphana University (2015)
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)
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 five 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; Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory; Seeing Silicon Valley: Life Inside a Fraying America (with Mary Beth Meehan); and L'Usage de l'Art: de Burning Man à Facebook, art, technologie et management dans la Silicon Valley. 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 widely translated.
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 and he continues to write for newspapers and magazines in America and Europe, including Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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.
Turner is the author of five 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; Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory; Seeing Silicon Valley: Life Inside a Fraying America (with Mary Beth Meehan); and L'Usage de l'Art: de Burning Man à Facebook, art, technologie et management dans la Silicon Valley. 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 widely translated.
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 and he continues to write for newspapers and magazines in America and Europe, including Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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.