Jonathan Bate

Sir Jonathan Bate is a Regents' and Foundation Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University's School of Sustainability and College of Liberal Arts. He joined ASU in 2019 after serving as Provost of Worcester College, Oxford University. A leading figure in green thinking and applied humanities, his work bridges Shakespeare studies, Romanticism, and ecological criticism. Bate holds degrees from Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD), an MA from Oxford, and was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard.

His research focuses on sustainability, Shakespearean drama, and the environmental imagination, with 20+ award-winning books including The Genius of Shakespeare and Romantic Ecology. He co-curated the British Museum’s Shakespeare Staging the World exhibit during the 2012 London Olympics. Notable honors include knighthood for literary scholarship and a CBE for higher education contributions.

Bate teaches courses like SOS 320 (Society and Sustainability) and CTE 110 (Culture, Technology, Environment). He leads ASU’s transdisciplinary BA in Culture-Technology-Environment. His public work includes BBC/PBS broadcasting, writing for major publications, and advocacy for bibliotherapy through organizations like The ReLit Foundation.