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Distinguished scholar Bo Ruberg has joined the University of California, Irvine School of Humanities’ Department of Film and Media Studies and Program in Visual Studies as an assistant professor.

Ruberg’s research explores sexuality and gender in digital media and digital cultures, with a focus on LGBTQ issues and video games. Since 2013, they have been instrumental in organizing the Queerness and Games Conference, an annual event that brings together academics and game developers, fostering community conversations across fields and making space for queer people working in and around games.

They are the author of Video Games Have Always Been Queer (NYU Press, 2019) and the co-editor of Queer Game Studies (University of Minnesota Press, 2017). Their next book, The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game-Makers are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games, a collection of interviews with queer indie game-makers, will be published by Duke University Press in April 2020.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Bo Ruberg to our school,” said Tyrus Miller, dean of the UCI School of Humanities. “Their exceptional and innovative scholarship in digital media will be a significant benefit to our students and will provide unique interdisciplinary and collaborative opportunities for humanities faculty and faculty across campus.”

Led by industry professionals and scholars who focus on both the theoretical and practical applications of film and media, UCI’s Department of Film and Media Studies houses the most undergraduate majors within the School of Humanities.

Leveraging core faculty from both the Department of Art History and Film and Media Studies, UCI’s Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies draws from a number of disciplines to train scholars in how to explore the meanings, practices, and processes of seeing and imaging across historical periods and diverse cultures.

"I am thrilled to join the UCI Department of Film and Media Studies and Program in Visual Studies. They both have strong commitments to exploring issues of identity and power, which is a perfect fit for my own research and teaching,” said Ruberg. “I am looking forward to working with colleagues and students who are passionate about confronting the cultural issues that underlie media."

Ruberg earned their Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and their B.A. from Bard College.

If you’d like to support scholarships for students working on LGBTQ+ studies at UCI, please donate here.


Film and Media Studies
Visual Studies
LGBTQ