On June 16, 2020, the Rutgers University Board of Governors conferred the title of full professor with tenure to Deepa Kumar, effective July 1, 2020.

An internationally renowned scholar in SC&I’s Journalism and Media Studies Department,  Kumar's research centers on Islamophobia, empire, culture, gender, race, class in the media, neoliberalism, labor, and social class. She has been active in various social movements for peace and justice and has written numerous articles in both scholarly journals and independent media. She is affiliated faculty in the Rutgers Departments of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies, and with the Center for Race and Ethnicity.

Kumar is an elected leader of the Rutgers faculty union (the AAUP-AFT) and has sought to amplify the faculty voice in university governance. 

Professor and Chair of the Journalism and Media Studies Department, Susan Keith, said, “I am so pleased with the news of Professor Kumar’s promotion, which is built on her scholarship, which is recognized around the world; her highly-rated teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels; and many years of dedicated service on behalf of her colleagues.”

Kumar holds that if neoliberal globalization characterizes the economic logic of our age, the “war on terror” has come to define its political logic. She began her research into the politics of empire shortly after the tumultuous events of 9/11. She is the author of more than 75 publications including books, journal articles, book chapters, and articles in independent and mainstream media. She has given over 20 keynote and plenary addresses at conferences around the world.

Kumar’s first book, “Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike” (University of Illinois Press, 2007), is about the power of collective struggle in effectively challenging the priorities of neoliberalism. “Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire,” her second book, (Haymarket Books, 2012), looks at how the “Muslim enemy” has historically been mobilized to suit the goals of empire. She is currently working on a third book on news media representations of the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy.

Kumar is a much sought out public intellectual who has shared her expertise in numerous media outlets such as the BBC, The New York Times, NPR, USA Today, Telesur, the Danish Broadcast Corporation, and other national and international media outlets.

Kumar received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Learn more about Kumar in this related SC&I article AAUP Names Deepa Kumar Recipient of the 2020 Marilyn Sternberg Award.

More information about the Journalism and Media Studies Program at the Rutgers School of Communication its available on the website.