ASU Professor Ron Broglio named new director of Institute for Humanities Research

Ron Broglio, a renowned educator, leader and scholar, has been appointed as Arizona State University’s new director of the Institute for Humanities Research.

Broglio, who previously served as the associate director of the institute, is a professor of English and senior scholar in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU. He is also the director of the institute's Desert Humanities Initiative, where he is engaged in several long-term experiments in the deserts of the American Southwest. Broglio has been teaching at ASU since 2009.

“We are pleased to have Ron Broglio accept the position of director at the IHR,” said Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “The IHR’s vision has always been to advance and support vital humanities scholarship that makes a difference in the world. Ron brings extraordinary vision and solid leadership to the IHR and will continue to grow this mission.”

“I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter at the IHR,” Broglio said. “Since its inception 17 years ago, the IHR has served as a site of interdisciplinary conversation fostering new humanities projects and research. In the coming year, we will continue to advance the institute's mission to fund fellowships and research and booster the institute’s impact with deeper community engagement.”

Broglio, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English/philosophy, a post-baccalaureate in world religions, a master’s degree in British literature and a doctoral degree in romanticism and literary theory, writes books and essays on nonhuman phenomenology and animal studies, curating and producing contemporary environmental art exhibitions and environmental experiences.

An accomplished author, his books include “Animal Revolution” (University of Minnesota Press 2022) and “Surface Encounters: Thinking with Animals and Art” (University of Minnesota Press 2011), among other books and edited collections, including “Beasts of Burden: Biopolitics, Labor, and Animal Life in British Romanticism" (SUNY 2017) and “Technologies of the Picturesque: British Art, Poetry, and Instruments 1750–1830” (Bucknell 2008). 

He also co-edits the Desert Humanities book series for Texas Tech University Press. Currently, he is working on desert phenomenology experiments with the arts, designers and science collaborators in an art book series called “Strata.”

The Institute for Humanities Research generates and supports transformative, transdisciplinary, collaborative and socially engaged humanities scholarship that contributes to the analysis and resolution of the world’s many challenges. Institute scholars explore such issues and concepts as sustainability, human origins, immigration and natural disasters, and utilize historical, philosophical and creative perspectives to achieve a deeper understanding of their causes, effects and cultural meanings. 

The institute encourages transdisciplinary research that contributes to ASU's initiatives and promotes outreach and involvement with arts and other kinds of institutions in the greater community.