Jeffrey Cohen is the Dean of Humanities in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Foundation Professor of English.
His research examines strange and beautiful things that challenge the imagination, phenomena that seem alien and intimate at once. He is especially interested in what monsters, misfits, inhuman forces, things that won't stay put reveal about the cultures that dream, fear and desire them. He is widely published in the fields of medieval studies, monster theory, and enviromnetal humanities. His book, “Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman,” received the 2017 René Wellek Prize for best book in comparative literature from the American Comparative Literature Association. With planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton he co-wrote the book “Earth,” an interdisciplinary examination of planetary thinking. With Julian Yates, he wrote "Noah's Arkive" (2023), a book about imagining conservation and humane refuge during climate change.
An overview of his success as dean of humanities may be found here.