Ricky Punzalan

Ricky Punzalan is an Associate Professor of Information at the University of Michigan School of Information and Director of the Museum Studies Program at Rackham Graduate School. He holds a PhD in Information from the University of Michigan, alongside graduate certificates in Museum Studies and Science, Technology, and Society (STS). His academic journey includes prior faculty roles at the University of the Philippines School of Library and Information Studies (2000–2006) and the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (2013–2019), where he co-directed the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture program.

• Education: Ph.D. in Information (UMich), MLIS (UP Diliman), BLS (UP Diliman)
• Research Focus: Archives and digital curation, particularly digitized anthropological archives and Indigenous community engagements. He emphasizes archival practices that benefit underserved communities through projects like virtual reunification of cultural heritage.

His work includes leading the ReConnect/ReCollect project (2023–present), funded by the U-M Humanities Collaboratory, which addresses reparative practices for Philippine collections acquired during U.S. colonial rule. He has also been a research associate at the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives since 2014 and serves on the Council of the Society of American Archivists.

• Awards: Hugh A. Taylor Prize (2012) for co-authored work on digitized photographic archives.
• Grants: IMLS Early Career Grant (2016), Wenner-Gren Foundation Workshop Grant (2016).

His research collaborations include projects in Ghana (Techiman archives, 2009) and the Philippines (Culion leprosarium archives, 2005–2006), emphasizing participatory approaches to archival preservation and access.