Tiffany Thames-Copeland, Ph.D., is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State with more than 15 years of previous experience in higher education. Throughout her career, she has taught at colleges and universities while serving in a variety of academic leadership roles, including television and radio coordinator, campus radio station general manager, and an associate general education Director.
A recent Fulbright U.S. Scholar, Dr. Thames-Copeland served as a visiting faculty member in the Department of Language and Communication Sciences at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana. While at KNUST, she received the Most Use of Technology Award for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She also conducted research examining the African diaspora’s use of digital media.
Her scholarship examines digital media at the intersection of race, gender, and liberation. Her premiere book is “We Are Not Scared to Die: Julius Malema and the New Movement for African Liberation," where she conducted research on a radical South African politician’s YouTube rhetoric during an election season and the digital audience’s reaction. Her recent scholarly article is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Lives: Black Women, African Media, and the Subaltern Counterpublic on Mama Winnie. Her recent book chapter, “The Signifying Hip Hop Hero”: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and the Digital Co-construction of Black Masculinity explores the intersections of hip-hop, digital culture, and Black identity.
Before entering academia, Dr. Thames-Copeland worked as a broadcast journalist, news producer, and on-air personality. She has worked for media organizations like Howard University’s WHUR 96.3 FM/SiriusXM 141 in Washington, D.C.; WRTI 90.1 FM, the NPR affiliate in Philadelphia; and WJOL 1340 AM sports/talk station in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Dr. Thames-Copeland is a former Smithsonian Faculty Fellow with the Paul Peck Humanities Institute and served on her former institution’s President’s Advisory Committee for Equity and Inclusion. She is also the recipient of an Outstanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarly or Professional Accomplishments.
