Katie LeBesco, Ph.D., is an academic leader, scholar, and educator with extensive experience in academic affairs, student success, and interdisciplinary scholarship on health, food, media, and culture. She currently serves on the faculty at Northeastern University-NYC following eight years as Associate Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Marymount Manhattan College. During her administrative career, she also served as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty and as Interim Vice President for Student Success and Engagement, bringing together academic affairs and student affairs to support faculty excellence, strengthen student success, and advance institutional strategy.
Dr. LeBesco’s scholarship examines the cultural politics of health, food, and the body, exploring how media and public discourse shape understandings of health, identity, and social justice. Her work has helped shape the interdisciplinary field of fat studies while contributing to scholarly conversations in food studies, media, and public health. She is the author or co-editor of seven books, including Revolting Bodies, Culinary Capital, and Eating in US National Parks, and has published widely in edited collections and peer-reviewed journals. Her scholarship has been recognized as a finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Gourmand Award and with an honorable mention for the Sylvia Rivera Award in Transgender Studies.
Throughout her career, Dr. LeBesco has worked to connect scholarship with institutional leadership, fostering faculty excellence, supporting student success, and advancing mission-driven change
Research/Publications Highlights
Books and Edited Volumes:
LeBesco, K. Eating in US National Parks: Cosmopolitan Taste and Food Tourism. New York: Routledge, 2024.
LeBesco, K., and P. Naccarato, eds. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Food and Popular Culture. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.
Naccarato, P., and K. LeBesco. Culinary Capital. New York: Berg, 2012.
LeBesco, K., and P. Naccarato, 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., K. LeBesco, and J. Noble, 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 K. LeBesco, eds. Bodies Out of Bounds: Fatness and Transgression. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001.
Departments
Communication Studies
Education
- PhD, Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- MA, Communication and Rhetoric, University at Albany
- BA, Communication and Rhetoric, University at Albany
Research Focus
- Food Studies
- Media Studies
- Embodiment
- Identity
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Disability
- Social class
Courses Taught
- Media and Social Change
- Persuasion and Rhetoric
- Principles and Theories of Communication
- Public Speaking
- Gender, Sexuality and Media
- Media Criticism
- The Politics of Popular Culture
- History and Development of Communication Theory
- Feminist and Queer Theory
- Edible Ideologies: The Politics of Food
- Queer Eye: Lesbian and Gay Cinema
- New York City Seminar: Eating New York
Additionally, supervised 100+ credit-bearing internships at sites including ABC, NBC, CBS, Saturday Night Live, Atlantic Records, Madison Square Garden, NY1News, MTV, Logo, Office of Senator Hillary Clinton, Versace, Harper’s Bazaar, Sirius, Warner Brothers, Hermes, Modern Bride, Fox News, Rachael Ray Show, Command PR, Jive Records, Steinberg Talent Management, New Line Cinema, Escada, Burberry, Downtown Arts Development, Oxygen Network, MSNBC, and DreamWorks Theatricals.