Fellow: Ricardo "Ricky" Punzalan

Ricardo "Ricky"  Punzalan, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, will be inducted as a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) during an awards ceremony at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists and SAA in Washington, DC. The distinction of Fellow is the highest honor bestowed on individuals by SAA and is awarded for outstanding contributions to the archives profession.

A prolific scholar, educator, mentor, and advocate, Punzalan earned his master in library science from the University of the Philippines Diliman and his PhD in information, with certificates in museum studies and science, technology, and society, from the University of Michigan. Punzalan began as a museum archivist at the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center in 2002, and then became the archivist and curator for the Culion Leprosy Museum and Archives, also in the Philippines, until 2006. He has served as an archival educator at the University of the Philippines, the University of Maryland, and the University of Michigan (UM). At UM, he led an initiative to restructure the curriculum to add courses in current and emerging issues, such as archives assessment, ethics, and scholarly communication, and has been a thoughtful proponent of decolonizing the curriculum. His diverse experience and his work as both a professional archivist and an educator enables him to look at archival issues in new ways, question theories, posit ideas on how to move forward, and lead collaborators, colleagues, and students to new insights.

In addition to mentoring students, Punzalan’s commitment to archival education is demonstrated in his service on the International Council on Archives Section on Archival Education (ICA-SAE), the advisory boards for UM’s Research Initiative for Master's Students, BitCurator.edu: Advancing Digital Forensics Education for Libraries and Archives, and Exploring New Frontiers in 21st Archival Education. In 2015 at the University of Maryland, College Park, he led the summer institute for the Archival Education and Research Initiative (AERI), a gathering of more than one hundred archival educators and PhD students from around the world. In 2020, he organized and chaired the International Conference of the History of Records and Archives (ICHORA).

Punzalan’s contributions to archival scholarship are equally impressive. His applied research on archival diaspora, digitization and access, and repatriation and reciprocity is community-engaged and offers tangible actions that impact practice. His current project, ReConnect/ReCollect: Reparative Connections to Philippine Collections project at UM, has brought together staff from the Bentley Historical Library, the Special Collections Research Center, the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, and members of the Filipino diaspora to discuss access needs, reparative description, and authority over these collections.

These themes are a throughline in Punzalan’s leadership in SAA as well. As chair of the Native American Archives Section (NAAS), Punzalan was a key advocate for SAA’s long-awaited endorsement of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, and he widely promoted the new standard as well as educated colleagues on respectful Indigenous archival stewardship. As a Council member, he contributed to expanding SAA’s DEIA policies and work plans in conjunction with its Strategic Plan. As co-chair of the Archival Repatriation Committee, Punzalan is leading the charge to develop guidance and training about archival repatriation, serve as subject matter experts and points of contact for other researchers, and engage in reparative and reciprocal actions that lead to better community and institutional relationships both in the United States and internationally.

As one supporter noted: "Punzalan is not simply knowledgeable about the work of our profession; he understands the importance of our work and encourages all of us to collaborate to bring about the societal change of which we are capable. He is always ready to contribute his substantial talent to making this happen."