Elizabeth Langland was appointed Director of the Institute for Humanities Research (IHR) at Arizona State University in July 2018. In that capacity and collaborating with Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Religion Gaymon Bennet, Langland developed a new initiative focusing on the Future of Humane Technologies that led to a Spring 2019 Symposium on the topic in Washington, DC. Subsequently, Bennett and Langland have continued that innovative research, which stresses the importance of bringing Silicon Valley tech innovators together with humanists who have thought deeply about those things in life that are jeopardized by some emerging technologies but have traditionally enriched and sustained both individuals and communities: our values, cultures, histories, and meanings. Arizona State University, with its focus on innovation, its large cadre of faculty experts in the humanities, and its relative proximity to Silicon Valley, offers a unique context in which to explore these issues.
Before joining the IHR, Langland served as Vice Provost of ASU’s West campus and Dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences and as Interim Dean of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Prior to moving to ASU, Langland served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Purchase College, State University of New York, from 2004-2007; as Dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies at University of California, Davis, from 1999-2004; and as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Florida from 1995-98.
Trained as a scholar of Victorian literature, feminist and gender theory, cultural studies and theory of the novel, Langland has authored four books and dozens of articles, edited or co-edited five books, and won several research and teaching awards. During her tenure at ASU she was appointed Foundation Professor of English.
