Rate My Professor Julia Himberg

Julia Himberg is an associate professor of Film and Media Studies and associate chair for curriculum in the Department of English at Arizona State University, where she directs the Film and Media Studies program. She earned her Ph.D. in Critical Studies and M.A. in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California, along with a B.A. in Film Studies. Himberg's research examines production cultures in television and digital media, focusing on gender issues, sexuality, LGBTQ media representation, cultural diversity, advertising, marketing, consumer behavior, communication, audience engagement, film studies, and television history. Her expertise positions her as a key voice in understanding how media industries shape identities and narratives.

Himberg authored The New Gay for Pay: The Sexual Politics of American Television Production (University of Texas Press, 2018), which details the production processes behind LGBT-inclusive television content, including development, production, marketing, and distribution. Key publications also include "Multicasting: Lesbian Programming and the Changing Landscape of Cable TV" in Television & New Media (2014), "Revry: Making the Case for LGBTQ Channels" in From Networks to Netflix: A Guide to Changing Channels, Second Edition (2022), and "The Weight of Queer Emptiness: The Politician and Twenty-First-Century Queerness" in Ryan Murphy’s Queer America (2022). She serves as associate online editor of the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, the flagship journal of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. In recognition of her teaching excellence, Himberg received the 2022 Zebulon Pearce Distinguished Teaching Award in Humanities from ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She contributes to campus initiatives as a member of the Department of English Advisory Board for the LGBT Studies Certificate and co-founder of the Queer X Humanities program. Himberg appeared as an expert in the FX docuseries Pride (2021), addressing the expansion of LGBTQ visibility in media during the 1990s and 2000s.