Harriet Ritvo

Professor Harriet N. Ritvo is the Arthur J. Conner Professor of History Emeritus at MIT. Her research focuses on the intersection of the history of science, environmental history, and British cultural history. Formerly, Ritvo was the Associate Dean (1992-95) of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Head of the History Faculty (1999-2006), and Director of Graduate Studies (2011-2013) in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society graduate program. Ritvo has created a subfield that explores the interactions of humans and animals and what they reveal about human cultures and societies in specific historical contexts. She is the recipient of several honors, such as the Whiting Writer's Award and Radcliffe Graduate Society Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, and the Stanford Humanities Center.