Dr. Paula Harper (GSAS '19, Historical Musicology), previously Assistant Professor of Musicology in the Glenn Korff School of Music at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been appointed Assistant Professor in Music and The College at the University of Chicago. She will begin in Autumn 2022.

Harper researches music, sound, and the internet, with focuses on issues of circulation, sharing, sociality and social media, fandom, gender, and representation.

Her current book project, Viral Musicking and the Rise of Noisy Platforms, tracks the rise of the social media platforms of the early 21st century through their ability to facilitate virality — "a virality that is deeply sonic, and that can be productively analyzed as musicking."

Harper's research also intersects with work on pop divas like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. She co-convened the summer 2021 “Taylor Swift Study Day: Eras, Narrative, Digital Music and Media” conference and is now co-editing the volume Taylor Swift: The Star, The Songs, The Fans. This collection examines many timely and intersecting issues in contemporary digital culture and music — from copyright law, to race and gender constructs, to fandom — by using Taylor Swift as a lens.

Click here to read more about her appointment.

Congratulations Paula!