Epps

Sara Epps is a language scholar who came to the field of mass communication from a background in Linguistics and is now a PhD student at the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication. Her research is focused on entertainment and social media in the modern age, particularly how YouTube is shifting the world of audio-visual entertainment.

Epps completed her masters in linguistics just down the road in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, with research focusing on applying discourse analysis and pragmatics study to entertainment media. Over the course of her time in the program she conducted research on properties such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, Clueless, and SNL. Epps brought this background in language research to the Department of Entertainment and Media Studies, but has enjoyed the many interdisciplinary opportunities provided by Grady College. She is a member of the Brand Activism and Social Media research group, where she is developing projects focused on social media usage.

Within her graduate career, Epps has also had the opportunity to develop a diverse teaching portfolio, acting as professor of record for LING2100 Study of Language (2022-2024) and EMST3320 Entertainment Media Analysis (starting Fall 2026), and as teaching assistant to LLED5732/7732 Classroom Discourse (2023), EMST3150 Entertainment Media Industries (2025), and EMST4120 Producing for the Screen (2025). She has found teaching to be one of the best parts of graduate school, taking a slim lead over research.

Education

MA, Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia

BA, Linguistics, Interpersonal Communication, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida

Publications

Epps, S. (2024) “How to Read Like a Queen: The Language of RuPaul’s Drag Race” (Unpublished master’s thesis). Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia.