Paul Ardoin, Ph.D.

Brackenridge Endowed Chair in Literature and the Humanities

Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary School for Engagement

Director, Film and Media Program 

Paul Ardoin is a scholar of post-1900 culture and theory. His scholarship on film has been cited by leading culture sites including Slate and Vulture and has been published in journals like Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America and Critique. His writing on literature and culture has appeared in the pages of MELUS, PMLA, Studies in the Novel, the Journal of Modern Literature, and more. He is a general editor of Bloomsbury’s Understanding Philosophy, Understanding Modernism book series, which includes over 20 volumes.

He is the author of the 2021 monograph Not a Big Deal: Narrating to Unsettle (University of Nebraska Press), which includes new readings of the horror films Get Out and It Follows. Drawing from philosophy, narratology, social neuroscience, critical theory, and other disciplines, the book explores how texts might work to unsettle readers in a landscape where unwelcome information is rejected as fake news or rebutted with alternative facts.

Ardoin has made a significant impact at UTSA since joining the faculty in 2014. He founded the university's Film and Media Studies program, which has seen exponential growth since its debut in 2022. The program gives students ample opportunities to gain real-world industry knowledge through professional film and tv shoots and through partnerships that UTSA has developed with Netflix, A24, WarnerMedia, Santikos Entertainment, and other companies.

In addition, Ardoin has helped create new experiential learning programs — like the Screenwriters Spring Break and Directors Workshop — that bring Hollywood screenwriters and film professionals to San Antonio to share their expertise with students.

In 2024, Ardoin received the UTSA Richard S. Howe Faculty Service Award, which recognizes faculty who have gone above and beyond in their commitment to students outside of the classroom. That same year, Ardoin and his colleagues also received the UTSA Innovation and Impact Award to recognize the success of their Screenwriters Spring Break program.

Ardoin earned his Ph.D. in English from Florida State University and his Ph.D. in Linguistics and Literature from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He is currently developing UTSA’s new Dramatic Arts program and working on research related to his experience building programs in the arts and humanities. Alongside this, he continues to develop his work in adaptation and authorial utility.