Mary Beth Ray

Associate Professor
Program Coordinator, Communication & Media Studies
Office: Arts & Technologies, Memorial Building Room 212, Plymouth, NH 03264

About Professor Ray

BS, Drexel University; MA, Syracuse University; PhD, Temple University

Mary Beth Ray received her Ph.D. from Temple University’s Communication & Media Studies program in 2012 and her M.A. in Media Studies from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication in 2006. Her research interests include digital technology and culture, popular music culture, feminist media studies, creative industries, critical cultural studies, and qualitative research methods.

Dr. Ray’s book Digital Connectivity and Music Culture – Artists & Accomplices (2017) from Palgrave MacMillan explores how the rise of widely available digital technology impacts the way music is produced, distributed, promoted, and consumed, with a specific focus on the changing relationship between artists and audiences.

Dr. Ray’s current research examines popular music, identity, and digital culture through The Adolescentia Project – a digital archive and anthology that documents reflections on albums people loved during adolescence: https://adolescentiaproject.com/.

She is currently the Internet Culture area co-chair for the PCA/ACA (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association) and the Music Culture area co-chair for MAPACA (Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association).

PSU Advisor, Lambda Pi Eta
PSU Co-Chair, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Council

Awards/Recognition
Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award Finalist, 2020
PCA President’s Award for Service, 2021
Going Above and Beyond for PSU Students, 2021, 2022
Theo Kalikow Award Winner, 2023
Loretta Lorance Award Winner, 2023

Courses Taught
CM4655 Communication Research Methods
CM2945 Social Media: Tech & Culture
CM2995 Social Media Audience Engagement
CM3645 Communication Theory
IS3470 Women in Contemporary American Culture