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Dr. Katie Kapurch

  • Professor - English
Portrait of Dr. Katie Kapurch

Biography and expertise

Katie Kapurch, Ph.D. is Professor of English at Texas State University. As a scholar of pop culture, she has written widely about Disney and the Beatles, as well as other phenomena including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and the Twilight series.

Katie is currently working on several books, including two about the Disneyfication of pop and another about the mermaid as pop icon. Katie serves as co-editor of the journal AMP: American Music Perspectives.

Katie also serves as Director of Social Media for the Department of English.

Education

Doctorate Degree

PhD in Communication Studies

Rhetoric and Language; Women's and Gender Studies Portfolio

University of Texas at Austin, 2012

Master's Degree

MA in Literature

Children's Literature

Texas State University, 2007

Bachelor's Degree

BA in Communication

(Honors) Minor: English Literature

St. Edward's University, 2005

Research Interests

  • Kapurch, Katie. Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 2024, Funded: 2025 - 2026). Grant.
  • Kapurch, Katie (Principal). Awards for Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Federal, $60000. (Submitted: April 2018, Funded: January 2020 - December 2020). Grant.
  • Kapurch, Katie. Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University, $8000. (Submitted: October 2020, Funded: January 2021 - May 2022). Grant.
  • Kapurch, Katie (Principal). Research Enhancement Program, Texas State University. (Submitted: October 2016, Funded: January 2017 - September 2017). Grant.
  • Kapurch, K. (n.d.). The Disneyfication of Pop: The Fairy Tales of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and the Beatles. Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved from https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/disneyfication-of-pop-9798765100059/
  • Kapurch, K. (2024). Once Upon a Fishtail in Aquamarine, an Ecofeminist Fairy Tale: Mermaids and/as Water Girls from 19th Century Fairy Tales to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989; 2023). Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, 26(3), 320–354. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5325/intelitestud.26.3.0320
  • Kapurch, K., Mills, R., & Heyman, M. (Eds.). (2023). The Beatles and Humour: Mockers, Funny Papers, and Other Play. Bloomsbury Press.
  • Kapurch, K., & Everett, W. (2023). Come Together: Feeling the Distemper of Murk and Elation with the Beatles (1969) and with Sheila E. and Ringo Starr (2017 and 2020). In W. Moylan, L. Burns, & M. Alleyne (Eds.), Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives on Popular Music Tracks. Routledge.
  • Kapurch, K., & Smith, J. M. (2023). Blackbird: How Black Musicians Sang the Beatles into Being-- and Sang Back to Them Ever After. Penn State University Press.
View all scholarly/creative works
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University. February 1, 2018 - July 2018
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, Department of English, Texas State University. November 1, 2017 - February 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: College of Liberal Arts Achievement Award for Scholarly Excellence, College of Liberal Arts, Texas State University. August 2016
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Presidential Excellence Award: Scholarly, Department of English, Texas State University. November 1, 2015
  1. Vice President

    Taylor Swift Studies Association

  2. Member

    Liberal Arts Communicators Group

  3. Editor

    AMP: American Music Perspectives

  4. Editorial Review Board Member

    International Journal of Disney Studies

  5. Reviewer / Referee

    Faculty of Arts at the University of Ottawa

  6. Reviewer / Referee

    Cambridge University Press

  7. View all activities