Mary Chayko

Mary Chayko
Born	1960 (age 63–64)
Alma mater	Seton Hall University, Rutgers University
Occupation	Professor at Rutgers School of Communication and Information[1]

Mary Chayko is an American sociologist and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication and Information at Rutgers University.^[2] She is the director of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies at Rutgers University's School of Communication and Information and she was a six-year Faculty Fellow in Residence at the Rutgers-New Brunswick Honors College (2017-2023).^[3] She is an affiliated faculty member of the Sociology Department and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at Rutgers.

Mary Chayko was one of the earliest social scientists to study the social implications of the internet and digital technologies. Her research focuses on the impact of the internet, digital technology, and social media on community, society, and the self. She is the author of multiple academic books and many articles on communication and sociology, exploring the impact of technology from the micro (self, relationships) to the macro (community, society).^[4] With the Behavioral Informatics Lab at the School of Communication and Information, she conducts, publishes, and presents research examining the prevalence of gender bias and stereotypes on social media and in household “smart” devices. With the Rutgers Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship Academy and physicians at Robert Wood Johnson - Barnabas Hospital, she is exploring ways in which social media and digital technology can be used to help connect patients in need of organ transplants with prospective donors. She also shares her research with the general public, as in the NBC News article, “What is 50 Years Spend on the Internet Worth to Humanity?”

She was honored with the Rutgers University Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019)^[5] and as a Rutgers Faculty of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Contributor to Undergraduate Education (1994). She also created the first course to be honored with the Quality Matters (QM) “Seal of Approval” at Rutgers University, “Digital Technology and Disruptive Change,”” which was jointly designed and submitted for certification by instructional designer Denise Kreiger (2015).