Professional Summary
Dr. Krysten Stein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English & Communication at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. She earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Illinois Chicago, with concentrations in Gender and Women’s Studies and Black Studies. She also holds a B.A. and M.A. in Communication from the University of Cincinnati, along with a graduate certificate in Film and Media Studies.
Grounded in qualitative and ethnographic methods—including interviews, participant observation, and the analysis of visual and textual media—Stein’s research examines how popular culture reflects and shapes social and cultural life. Her work focuses on representation and identity, production and political economy, and health and wellness, with particular attention to reality television, influencer culture, and the platformization of care. Her scholarship has appeared in Feminist Media Studies, Gender & Society, The International Journal of Communication, and Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture. She is currently completing her first book manuscript, And How Does That Make You Feel? Theratainment and the Digital Commodification of Mental Health (under contract with University of California Press), which analyzes the entanglements of platform governance, neoliberal ideology, and emotional labor within digital mental health content.
Stein is a Research Affiliate at the Intersectional Tech Lab at the University of Michigan School of Information and at the Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication. She is a co-founding member of the Content Creator Scholars Network and Social Media Editor for Feminist Media Studies. She is also a global member of the TikTok Cultures Research Network and a former Dissertation Fellow with the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). Her work has been featured in national and international media outlets such as NBC News, The Guardian, Business Insider, and CNN, and she regularly presents at major academic conferences including ICA, AoIR, SCMS, and Console-ing Passions.
With more than a decade of college teaching and advising experience across institutional contexts, Stein brings a relational and justice-centered approach to the classroom. Her pedagogy is rooted in care, critical media literacy, and community-building, encouraging students to analyze the world around them and imagine alternatives.
Education
Master of Arts: University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio, 2012 (Communication)
Bachelor of Arts: University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio, 2011 (Major: Communication Minors: Psychology, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies )
Graduate Certificate: University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, 2016 (Film and Media Studies )
PhD: University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, 2024 (Communication, Gender and Women's Studies, Black Studies)