Kathleen LeBesco

Dr. Katie LeBesco joined the Office of the President in 2018 as Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, after 20 years at MMC.

Dr. LeBesco joined the faculty in the department of Communication Arts in 1998, serving as chair from 2005-2010, and was named Distinguished Chair in 2009. Before moving into the role of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2011, Dr. LeBesco regularly taught Principles and Theories of Communication, History and Development of Communication Theory, Communication Today, Gender, Sexuality and Media, Media Criticism, Public Speaking, Edible Ideologies: The Politics of Food, Feminist and Queer Theory, and Queer Eye: Lesbian and Gay Cinema. Most recently, Dr. LeBesco taught a NYC Seminar, Eating New York. In 2016-2017, Dr. LeBesco served as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty (Chief Academic Officer) and was subsequently promoted to Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. 

Dr. LeBesco’s books include The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2017), Culinary Capital (Berg Press, 2012), Edible Ideologies: Representing Food and Meaning (SUNY Press, 2008), Revolting Bodies? The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity (UMass Press, 2004), The Drag King Anthology (Harrington Park Press, 2003), and Bodies Out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression (UCalifornia Press, 2001). In addition, Dr. LeBesco has authored more than thirty scholarly journal articles and book chapters in edited collections. Dr. LeBesco’s work concerns food and popular culture, fat activism, disability and representation, working-class identity, and queer politics.

Degrees

B.A., The State University of New York at Albany
M.A., The State University of New York at Albany
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Recent Work

Chair, Presidential Task Force to Restart MMC

Chair, Environmental Sustainability SPIN Team

Co-chair, 2017-2022 Strategic Plan

Co-chair, Facilities and Space Planning Committee

Research - Books:

LeBesco, K. and Naccarato, P.  (Eds.) The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Naccarato, P. and LeBesco, K.  Culinary Capital.  New York:  Berg, 2012.

LeBesco, K. and Naccarato, P.  (Eds.)  Edible Ideologies: Representing Food and Meaning.  Albany, NY:  State University of New York Press, 2008.

LeBesco, K.   Revolting Bodies?  The Struggle to Redefine Fat Identity.  Amherst, MA:  University of Massachusetts Press, 2004.

Troka, D., LeBesco, K., and Noble, J. (Eds.)  The Drag King Anthology.  Binghamton, NY:  Harrington Park Press, 2003.  (Simultaneously released as a special double issue of The Journal of Homosexuality.)

Braziel, J. E. and LeBesco, K. (Eds.).  Bodies Out of Bounds:  Fatness and Transgression.  Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press, 2001.