Judd Ruggill, PhD

2025 Distinguished Department Head Award

Judd Ruggill joined the University of Arizona in 2016 as part of the Computational Media Cluster initiative. Since then he has led the creation of the Center for Digital Humanities, served as the Acting Head of Africana Studies, and in 2017 became the Founding Head of the Department of Public & Applied Humanities (PAH). As Head, Dr. Ruggill has guided PAH from no majors to more than 400 in just seven years, has grown the faculty to 14, and has been instrumental in aiding numerous members of the department in securing grants, awards, publications, and guest lectures. He is a tireless advocate for and mentor to the Department’s faculty, staff, and students. He is so appreciated by the Dean’s Office that all four of the Deans asked to write a joint letter in support of his nomination for this award.

From 2008-2016, he was a faculty member in the School of Social & Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University and a member of the Graduate faculty of the Department of English, the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. He holds a PhD and MA in Comparative Cultural & Literary Studies from the University of Arizona (2005), a BA in English/American Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz (1994). He is a Co-Founder/Director of the Learning Games Initiative Research Archive (LGIRA), a transdisciplinary, multi-institutional research group established in 1999 to study, teach with, build, and archive computer games. Today, the LGIRA is among the largest and most influential of such archives in the world, lending materials and support to institutions like the Smithsonian and the Strong National Museum of Play, university and industry researchers, and students of all ages from around the world.

Dr. Ruggill's research and teaching interests center on mass media history, theory, and business, with a particular emphasis on computer game technologies, play, and culture. He is widely published and a sought after speaker and routinely serves as an external reviewer for P&T cases and for peer-reviewed presses and journals.