Faculty Profile for Dr. Angela VandenBroek

profile photo for Dr. Angela VandenBroek
Dr. Angela VandenBroek
Assistant Professor — Anthropology
ELA 271A
phone: (512) 245-8272
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Biography and Education

 Angela (she/her) is a sociocultural anthropologist with a PhD in anthropology from Binghamton University. She has additionally worked as an applied anthropologist in design, branding, and information technologies since 2008—both within organizations and as a freelancer. Broadly speaking, her work sits at the intersection of business and design anthropology and science and technology studies and focuses on how ambitions for better futures by states, citizens and entrepreneurs are coopted and reformed by innovation culture and its infrastructures. She's conducted research in Stockholm Sweden’s startup and innovation ecosystem (#SthlmTech) and is now conducting research in the Central Texas Innovation Corridor between Austin and San Antonio.

Research Interests

 Science and Technology Studies (STS); Feminist STS; Business Anthropology; Design anthropology; Applied Anthropology; Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Technologies; Design; Futures and Foresight; Expertise; Ignorance and Agnotology; and Infrastructure

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • VandenBroek, A. K. (2022). Pitching Hype: Storytelling and Entrepreneurship. In E. Liebow & J. C. McKenna (Eds.), Anthropology and Entrepreneurship: The Current State of Research and Practice (pp. 49–57). Arlington, VA, USA: American Anthropological Association with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Retrieved from https://entrepreneur.americananthro.org/
  • VandenBroek, A. K. (n.d.). Tactics for Anthropology + Design Beyond the Academic & Applied Binary. In C. Miller & J. M. Spears (Eds.), Design + Anthropology: The Routledge Companion to Practicing Anthropology and Design. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Practicing-Anthropology-and-Design/Spears-Miller/p/book/9781032374161
  • Taylor, N., & VandenBroek, A. K. (n.d.). Penciling: An Anonymization Method for Social Media Images. Field Methods.
  • VandenBroek, A. K., & Koycheva, L. (2024). Sandbox Innovation: Potentials and Impacts. Practicing Anthropology, 46(1), 36–45. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/08884552.2024.2307293
  • Koycheva, L., & VandenBroek, A. K. (Eds.). (2024). Sandbox Innovation (Special Section). Practicing Anthropology (1st ed., Vol. 46, pp. 36–78). Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showAxaArticles?journalCode=rpay20

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Award of Excellence for Dedicated Service and Outstanding Accomplishments, Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, & Computing in the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association. 2020
  • Award / Honor Recipient: CLS ProQuest Innovation in College Librarianship Award, College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. 2010
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Irmgard H. Wolfe Award for Best Graduate Paper in Anthropology, Department of Anthropology at the University of Southern Mississippi. 2008
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Walton Boston Koch Distinguished Merit Scholarship, Department of Anthropology at Grand Valley State University. 2005

Selected Grants

  • VandenBroek, Angela Kristin (Principal). Thord-Gray Memorial Fund Fellowship for Dissertation Research, American-Scandinavian Foundation, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $23000. (Funded: August 2017 - August 2018). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Director
Innovative Anthropologies Lab
August 23, 2021-Present
Advisory Board Member
Silicon Island: Building Equitable Tech Futures in Out of the Way Places (Danish Research Fund)
2024-Present
Member
Presidential Upper Level Scholarship Committee
February 2024-Present
Member
Internship Committee
September 18, 2023-Present
Designer
Promotion & Branding
August 20, 2021-Present