Education

2016 Southwestern University, B.A.
2021 The University of Texas at Austin, M.A.
2025 The University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D.

Courses Taught

Communication and Law
Media and Society
Public Opinion, Media and Power

Career Specialties

Zelly Martin is an assistant professor in Communication and Media Studies. She teaches Communication and Law, Media and Society, and Public Opinion, Media and Power. Her research examines how social media and emerging technologies impact democracy. She joined the University of Tampa after completing her Ph.D. at the other UT—Austin!

Professional and Community Activities

Martin is a qualitative researcher with expertise in digital fieldwork, ethnography, interviewing, and textual analysis. Her peer-reviewed work has been published in journals such as Big Data & Society, Information, Communication & Society, Social Media + Society, Political Research Quarterly, Journalism Studies, First Monday, Feminist Media Studies, Mobilization and Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Alongside co-editors Inga Trauthig, Alice Marwick and Sam Woolley, she edited a special issue in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics on conspiracy theory research.

Her research has appeared in Teen Vogue, Slate Future Tense, Rappler, Tech Policy Press, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Global Network on Extremist and Technology, One to Know Magazine, the Austin Chronicle, and online at the Center for Media Engagement. She has presented this work at conferences including International Communication Association, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, RightsCon, the Association of Internet Researchers conference and others.

Honors and Awards

2024, Harrington Dissertation Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin
2023, Nettie Doscher More Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin
2023, Pic Wagner Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin
2022, David Warren Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin

Personal Website