curriculum vitae

Education

University of Southern California, PhD (in progress), Communication, 2020 [Committee: Larry Gross (chair), Christina Dunbar-Hester, Nina Eliasoph (USC Department of Sociology)]

University of Southern California, MA, Communication, 2018

George Washington University, BA Honors, Political communication, magna cum laude, 2014 [Advisor: Kimberly Gross]

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Citizen Typography and Political Brands in the 2016 US Presidential Election Campaign.” Marketing Theory, advance online publication. doi:10.1177/1470593118763982

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “The Crisis in Content Validity Among Existing Measures of Transphobia.” Archives of Sexual Behavior, advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10508-018-1191-x

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Attitudes Toward Transgender Men and Women: Development and Validation of a New Measure.” Frontiers in Psychology 9 (387). doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00387

Walter, Nathan, Thomas J Billard, and Sheila T. Murphy. 2017. “On the Boundaries of Framing Terrorism: Guilt, Victimization, and the 2016 Orlando Shooting.” Mass Communication and Society 20 (6): 849–868. doi:10.1080/15205436.2017.1334071

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “Fonts of Potential: Areas for Typographic Research in Political Communication.” International Journal of Communication 10: 4570–4592.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “Writing in the Margins: Mainstream News Media Representations of Transgenderism.” International Journal of Communication 10: 4193–4218.

Articles under review

Please contact me for a list of articles currently under peer review or awaiting editorial decisions.

Book Chapters

Moran, Rachel E., and Thomas J Billard. “Imagining Resistance to Trump through the Networked Branding of the National Park Service.” In Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: A Casebook, edited by Henry Jenkins, Sangita Shresthova, and Gabriel Peters-Lazaro. New York, NY: New York University Press, forthcoming. [pre-print manuscript]

Billard, Thomas J. “‘Passing’ and the Politics of Deception: Transgender Bodies, Cisgender Aesthetics, and the Policing of Inconspicuous Marginal Identities.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication, edited by Tony Docan-Morgan. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming. [pre-print manuscript]

Capuzza, Jamie C., Leland G. Spencer, Thomas J Billard, E. Tristan Booth, matthew heinz, Sarah Jones, and Lucy J. Miller. “Transing Communication Education: A Chorus of Voices.” In Queer Communication Pedagogy, edited by Ahmet Atay and Sandra L. Pensoneau-Conway. New York, NY: Routledge, forthcoming.

Jenkins, Henry, and Thomas J Billard (with Samantha Close, Yomna Elsayed, Michelle C. Forelle, Rogelio Lopez, and Emilia Yang). 2018. “Participatory Politics.” In Keywords in Remix Studies, edited by Eduardo Navas, Owen Gallagher, and xtine burrough, 230-45. New York, NY: Routledge.

Billard, Thomas J, and Brian L. MacAuley. 2017. “‘It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Transgender Superhero!’: Transgender Characters in Marvel, DC, and Image Comics.” In Heroes, Heroines, and Everything in Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes in Children’s Entertainment Media, edited by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard and Christopher J. Olson, 233-52. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Book Reviews

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. Review of Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories, edited by Leland G. Spencer and Jamie C. Capuzza. Journal of Communication 66 (2): E11–E13. doi:10.1111/jcom.12224

Scholarly Presentations

Academic Conference Presentations

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Rethinking Communicative Activism through the US Transgender Rights Movement.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Massachusetts, August 30-September 2.

Loup, Anna C., and Thomas J Billard. 2018. “Indexing Transgender Rights in US Media.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Massachusetts, August 30-September 2.

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Setting the Transgender Agenda: Intermedia Agenda-Setting in the Digital News Environment.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Prague, Czech Republic, May 24-28. [WINNER: Top Student Paper, Political Communication Division]

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “The Influence of Pornography Viewing on Attitudes Toward Transgender People Among Men Who are Attracted to Transgender Women.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Prague, Czech Republic, May 24-28.

Loup, Anna C., and Thomas J Billard. 2018. “A Content Analytic Study of Media Indexing in the Context of Transgender Rights.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Prague, Czech Republic, May 24-28.

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Development and Validation of the Attitudes Toward Transgender Men and Women Scale.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, Georgia, March 1-3.

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “‘Passing’ and the Politics of Deception: Transgender Bodies, Cisgender Aesthetics and the Policing of Inconspicuous Marginal Identities.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, London, United Kingdom, January 10-12.

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Shifting Focus from Media Activism to Communication Activism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, London, United Kingdom, January 10-12.

Moran, Rachel E, and Thomas J Billard. 2018. “Towards Networked Branding: Communication and Political Citizenship in Contemporary Brand Culture.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association, London, United Kingdom, January 10-12.

Billard, Thomas J, and Brian L. MacAuley. 2017. “‘It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Transgender Superhero!’ Transgender Characters in Marvel, DC, and Image Comics.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Dallas, Texas, November 16-19.

Walter, Nathan, Thomas J Billard, and Sheila T. Murphy. 2017. “Rethinking the Framing Paradigm: An Experimental Case Study of the 2016 Orlando Shooting.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Dallas, Texas, November 16-19.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Media System Dependency and Corrections to Transgender Political Misinformation.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, California, August 31-September 3.

Kelly, Ruthie, and Thomas J Billard. 2017. “Setting the Transgender Agenda: Intermedia Agenda-Setting in the Digital News Environment.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, California, August 31-September 3.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Aesthetic Subsidy: Design Cuts and the Changing Labor of Graphic Designers in the Network Society.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montréal, Canada, August 12-15.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Fast Friends? Differences in the Parasocial Effects of Binge-Watched Television Programs.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, San Diego, California, May 25-29.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Digital Transitions: Investigating Content Differences in Legacy Press and Digital-Native Online News Coverage of Transgender Topics.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, San Diego, California, May 25-29.

Billard, Thomas J, and Rachel E. Moran. 2017. “Where are the American Panel Shows? A Comparative Study of Political Content in British and American Late Night Comedy Programmes.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, San Diego, California, April 12-15.

Capuzza, Jamie C., Leland G. Spencer, Thomas J Billard, E. Tristan Booth, matthew heinz, Sarah Jones, and Lucy J. Miller. 2017. “Transing Communication Education: A Chorus of Voices for Innovating Transgender Pedagogy.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern States Communication Association, Greenville, South Carolina, April 5-9. 

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Branding Murder: The Ambivalent Participatory Politics of Transgender Day of Remembrance.” Paper presented at the Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, Los Angeles, California, February 24-26.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “The Evolution of Transgender Women in Mainstream Comics.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Women’s Studies Association, Montréal, Canada, November 10-13.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “Ambivalent Identities in Transgender Political Advocacy.” Paper presented at the 1st annual Trans*Studies Conference, Tucson, Arizona, September 7-10.

Billard, Thomas J, and Ruthie Kelly. 2016. “Designed to Win: The Visual Identities of American Presidential Candidates.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1-4.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “Constructing Transgender Identity in Restroom-Related Policy Debates.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1-4.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “The Transgender Body as Artistic Creation: Journalists’ Aesthetic Evaluations of Transgender Identity.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-13.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “In a Wibbly-Wobbly Time and Place: Queer Temporality in the BBC’s Doctor Who.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Seattle, Washington, March 22-25.

Billard, Thomas J. 2015. “Writing in the Margins: Mainstream News Media Representations of Transgenderism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 21-25.

Grants 

Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2018
$500: Travel grant

Annenberg Doctoral Student Summer Research Fellowship, 2016
$2,500: Research grant

International Communication Association Political Communication Division, 2015
$300: Travel grant

International Communication Association, 2015
$100: Travel grant

Honors & Awards

ICA Political Communication Division Top Student Paper Award, 2018

Consortium on Media Policy Studies (COMPASS) Fellowship, 2017

Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Research and Creative Project Award, 2017
$1,000: Research award

Annenberg Graduate Fellowship Research and Creative Project Award, 2016
$500: Research award

Annenberg Graduate Fellowship, 2015 - present

George Washington University Board of Trustees Scholarship, 2010 - 2014

Sigma Alpha Lambda

Delta Phi Alpha

Teaching Experience

Teaching Assistant (Reader)

COMM 305: Understanding Social Science Research (USC), Spring 2018

COMM 209: Communication and Media Economics (USC), Spring 2017

COMM 313: Communication and Mass Media (USC), Fall 2016

Guest Lectures

Billard, Thomas J. 2018. “Ethical Considerations in Social Science Research.” Class lecture, COMM 305: Understanding Social Science Research from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, April 12.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “News and Politics.” Class lecture, COMM 313: Communication and Mass Media from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, November 6.

Billard, Thomas J. 2017. “Changing Media, Changing Effects.” Lecture, China Future Creative Class from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, January 11.

Billard, Thomas J. 2016. “News and Politics.” Class lecture, COMM 313: Communication and Mass Media from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, November 7.

Professional Appointments

National Center for Transgender Equality, COMPASS Fellow, 2017

Research Appointments

EurekaFacts, LLC, Research Analyst, 2015

Research Affiliations

Civic Paths, 2016 - present

Metamorphosis Project, 2017

Scenario Lab, 2016 - 2017

Professional Memberships

American Political Science Association (APSA), 2016 – present

American Sociological Association (ASA), 2017 – present

Critical Mixed Race Studies Association (CMRS), 2016 – 2017

International Communication Association (ICA), 2014 – present

Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA), 2017 – present

National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), 2016 – present 

National Communication Association (NCA), 2015 – present

National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), 2016 – 2017

Political Studies Association (PSA), 2017 – present

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), 2015 – 2017

Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), 2017 – present

Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), 2017 – present

Service to the Profession

Committee Member

APSA Political Communication Division Executive Committee, 2017 – present

APSA Political Communication Division Nominating Committee, 2016 – 2017

Journal Reviewer

Communication, Culture & Critique, 2016 - present

Journalism Practice, 2016 – present

Journalism Studies, 2017 – present

Public Relations Inquiry, 2017 – present

Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 2016 - present

Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2016 - present

Conference Reviewer

ICA LGBTQ Studies Interest Group, 2015 - present

ICA Political Communication Division, 2015 - present

ICA Popular Communication Division, 2015 - present

ICA Visual Communication Division, 2015 - present

Award reviewer

SPSP Undergrad Student Poster Award

service to the institution

Annenberg Communication Graduate Student Association (USC), Treasurer, 2016 - 2017

professional certifications

Adobe Certified Associate (ACA), Visual Communication using Photoshop, 2016