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On Sabbatical for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 Semesters.
Expertise Areas: critical media, queer, transgender, sports, and surveillance studies.
title="Bio" style="regular" Mia Fischer (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. Working at the intersections of critical media, sports, queer, trans and surveillance studies, her work has appeared in various academic journals, including Feminist Media Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Intelligence and National Security, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, Communication & Sport among other venues. Her book, Terrorizing Gender: Transgender Visibility and the Surveillance Practices of the U.S. Security State (University of Nebraska Press, 2019) is the winner of the National Communication Association's 2020 Diamond Anniversary Book Award. The book argues that the heightened visibility of transgender people in national discourse has occasioned a conservative backlash characterized by the increased surveillance of trans people by the security state, evident in debates over “bathroom” laws, the trans military ban, and the rescission of federal protections for transgender students and workers. Terrorizing Gender therefore concludes that the current moment of trans visibility constitutes a contingent cultural and national belonging, given the gendered and racialized violence that the state continues to enact against trans communities, particularly those of color. Her larger teaching and research interests revolve around questions of social justice, specifically how mediated visibilities of marginalized communities impact the material realities of those communities, principally in terms of their access to national belonging and U.S. citizenship. Between 2017-2021, Dr. Fischer co-led Denver Pen Pal Collaborative (DPPC), a collaborative prison-pen-pal project that connects with folks all across the country through various forms of artistic expression as a means of empowering those who are subject to mass incarceration. At CU Denver, Dr. Fischer's service has largely focused on promoting a welcoming and inclusive climate for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff. She also selectively consults on DEI implementation and LGBTQ+ inclusive teaching- and workplace practices. Questions and comments are welcome.