Dr. Cheris Kramarae (1938-) began teaching in 1978 as an associate professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her coursework focused primarily on communication, with a special focus on sexist language and power structures differences between genders. In addition, Kramarae's curriculum also included topics such as sexuality, racism, technology, and bilingual education. From 1988 to 1990, she was the acting director of the Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University of Oregon. From 1991 to 1996, Kramarae was at the University of Illinois, where she was the co-founder and co-organizer of the Women, Information Technology, & Scholarship (WITS) Center for Advanced Study. She was also the director of the Women's Studies program and Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Illinois from 1993-1996. In 1996, she became a visiting professor for the Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University of Oregon. From 1999 to 2000, Kramarae served as an international dean at the International Women's University in Germany.

Outside of the classroom, her research focused on many of the same topics she taught in her curriculum. Language and its relations to gender were a particular focus for Kramarae. She is widely known for her contributions to muted group theory. She has published a variety of books and articles, ranging in topics from innate sexism in language to women's relationship with developing technology. Notably, she was a part of the writing and editing process for , an alternative dictionary that redefined terms from a feminist standpoint. She also co-edited the four-volume .

In addition to her own classes, Kramarae traveled as a visiting lecturer for numerous institutions around the world. She also attended and participated in numerous conferences, often focusing on topics related to her research interests.