Kaitlin M. Murphy is an interdisciplinary researcher, professor, artist, and consultant. Her research focuses on culture and politics, with particular interest in intersections between human rights, atrocity prevention, memory, the arts, and public thought.

Murphy is currently Chair of the Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Graduate Interdisciplinary Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She is also faculty in the Human Rights Practice graduate program, and affiliated faculty in Latin American Studies and the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona. She received her Ph.D. in Performance Studies and M.A. in Visual Culture, both from New York University, and her B.A. in Community Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.

In addition to her academic work, Murphy works as a consultant in a range of areas, including as a researcher, editor, and writer, leading workshops and trainings, and in program evaluation and development.

Prior to joining academia, Murphy worked in public policy. She was program director at Performing Arts Workshop, a Bay Area nonprofit helping young people develop critical thinking, creative expression, and essential learning skills through the arts, and program specialist at the National Economic Development and Law Center, a national research, consulting, and legal organization dedicated to building economic health in vulnerable communities.