Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


Find us on Facebook (Link opens a new window) Find us on Twitter (Link opens a new window)


Henkel Appointed as Director of UWs Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research

head portrait of a man
Scott Henkel

Scott Henkel, an associate professor in the Department of English and in African American and Diaspora Studies, has been chosen as the new director of the Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research (WIHR) at the University of Wyoming.

“Dr. Henkel will bring much-needed energy to this important leadership position at UW,” Provost Kate Miller says. “He also will help WIHR thrive in its mission. I am confident Scott will help tap the potential of the humanities to invigorate faculty interactions, enrich teaching and research, and deepen the connection between the university and the state.”

“Scott has worked hard to promote the humanities on campus and throughout the state since joining the UW faculty,” says Isadora Helfgott, chair of the Department of History and American Studies. “He has a clear vision for WIHR as an incubator for humanities scholarship on campus and as a hub for statewide engagement. Scott brings tremendous enthusiasm and organizational skill to this position, and I am intrigued by the new directions and interdisciplinary collaborations he has outlined for the near future. I am very excited for the future of humanities research and teaching at UW under Scott’s leadership.”

Henkel has been on the UW faculty since 2015. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wyoming Humanities Council and is in the current class of Leadership Wyoming. His area of expertise is the literature of the Americas in the 19th century, with a focus on the public humanities and the relationship between democracy, labor and slavery.

“I am tremendously excited by this opportunity,” Henkel says. “The humanities at a land-grant university are special, and I look forward to helping our community reach its fullest potential. Humanities work -- with its attention to ethics, discovery, critical thinking and interdisciplinarity -- will shape our future. I am looking forward to building UW’s humanities institute into an engine for producing research and a model of democratic education for our campus, state and nation.”

Henkel received a B.A. (1997) in English and education from Western Michigan University, an M.A. (2000) in creative writing from Ohio University, and a Ph.D. (2007) in English from Michigan State University.

For more information about WIHR, visit www.uwyo.edu/wihr/.

 

 

Contact Us

Institutional Communications
Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2929
Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu


Find us on Facebook (Link opens a new window) Find us on Twitter (Link opens a new window)