Michael Pfister

I am an Instructor in the College of Integrative Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University's Downtown Phoenix campus, where I teach courses in composition, professional writing, interdisciplinary communication, and music and culture. My work explores how people create, share, and transform knowledge through writing, music, culture, and emerging technologies.

I earned an M.A. in American Studies from Michigan State University and have spent my career working at the intersections of education, creative practice, and community engagement. In the classroom, I am particularly interested in helping students develop the critical thinking, research, and communication skills needed to navigate an increasingly complex digital world. My teaching and scholarship focus on multimodal communication, digital culture, artificial intelligence, information literacy, and the social and cultural dimensions of emerging technologies.

Outside the university, I am an active professional drummer and collaborator in the Phoenix arts community. As both a performer and producer, I have worked with musicians, artists, writers, and community organizations to create interdisciplinary projects that bring together diverse perspectives and forms of expression. I am a co-founder of CollabX and Marche-Pfister Productions, organizations dedicated to fostering collaborative creative work through performances, workshops, and public engagement initiatives.

My current interests include artificial intelligence and creativity, music and cultural research, information flows, and “crate digging” as a model for discovery, knowledge production, and interdisciplinary inquiry. Across my teaching, artistic practice, and community work, I am driven by a belief that meaningful innovation emerges through collaboration, curiosity, and the exchange of ideas across disciplines.