Lee Humphreys

Professor and Chair, Department of Communication

Dr. Lee Humphreys studies the social uses and perceived effects of communication technology. Her research has explored mobile phone use in public spaces, emerging norms on mobile social networks, and the privacy and surveillance implications of location-based services. Her recent scholarship tries to historicize social media into a broader context of communication practices. Often using qualitative field methods, she focuses on how people integrate communication technology in their everyday lives in order to facilitate identity management and social interaction. She received her BS in Communication from Cornell University and received her MA and PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Education

Doctorate, University of Pennsylvania - 2007
Master of Science, University of Pennsylvania - 2003
Bachelor of Science, Cornell University - 1999

Awards & Honors

Fellow, International Communication Association (2022)
Rising Star Faculty Award (2018) CALS Alumni Association, Cornell
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Teaching (2018) SUNY

Courses Taught

COMM 1180: Leadership through Peer Mentorship
COMM 6830: Qualitative Research Methods
COMM 2200: Media Communication

Contact Information

468 Mann Library Building
Ithaca, NY 14853

(607) 255-2599

lmh13 [at] cornell.edu

Additional Links
- Personal Website

Selected Publications

Books

Humphreys, L. (2018). The Qualified Self: Social Media & the Accounting of Everyday Life. p. 1-171 MIT Press, Cambridge, MA USA.

Journal Publications

Humphreys, L., Özkul, D. & Belina, S. (2025). 100 years of communication: Change and continuity in inaugural communication journals 1924–2024. Communication & Change. 1(article 7). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44382-025-00007-y
Humphreys, L. & Nguyen, R.* (2024). Networked privacy and its broader implications. Journal of Communication, forum. 74(5): 424-428. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqae026
Berniker, T*. & Humphreys, L. (2024). Surveillance working groups as geomedia governance. Media & Communication, Special issue on Geomedia Futures: Imagining Tomorrow’s Mediatized Places and Place-Based Technologies.https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8201
Humphreys, L. (2024). Connected in isolation: How Zoom enabled ritual communication for the digitally privileged during the pandemic lockdown. International Journal of Communication, forum. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21888
Özkul, D. Haleguoa, G., Wilken, R., & Humphreys, L. (2023). Sensors, media, and sensor-mediated communication. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad03
Cumiskey, K. M., & Humphreys, L. (2023). Social, seamless, just, and open: Advancing mobile communication research. New Media & Society, 25(4), 833-848. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231158642
Humphreys, L. (2023). Mobile social media: The challenges and opportunities continue. Mobile Media & Communication, 11(1), 74-79. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20501579221132209

Lee in the news

News

September 30, 2026

COMM Updates - 9/30/2026

September 30, 2026 Awards Professor Jeff Niederdeppe received the Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award from the Health Communication Division of the National Communication Association. The award recognizes a significant and original...

News

September 24, 2026

COMM Updates - 9/24/2026

September 24, 2026 Conferences Professor Lee Humphreys was a panel participant in the “Oral Histories of Mobile Communication” conference. How has the mobile phone impacted our lives? The Oral Histories of Mobile Communication project documents...

Lee Humphreys

Contact Information

Additional Links

Selected Publications

Lee in the news