Ann Hetzel Gunkel
Director of Cultural Studies
Email 312-344-7527
Ann Hetzel Gunkel, Ph.D., Professor of Humanities and Cultural Studies, received her doctorate in Philosophy from De Paul University. She is an interdisciplinary Humanities scholar/educator, specializing in Philosophy and Urban Cultural Studies. Formerly Associate Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Carthage College, Dr. Gunkel came to Columbia College in 1998 where she teaches Introduction to Cultural Studies, Urban Images in Media & Film, Food and Culture, Philosophical Issues in Film, and Postmodernism & Posthumanism in Theory & Practice.
Her research spans critical theory, popular culture, ethnic studies, feminist theory, and urban cultures. Active in the field of Polish American Studies, she is considered the leading scholar of polka music on the American scene. An award-winning designer of educational multimedia, Dr. Gunkel is a public intellectual who has appeared frequently in national and local media. She is a Fulbright Scholar who has lectured widely in North America, Russia, Western and Eastern Europe
Dr. Gunkel is an award-winning graphic designer, published documentary photographer and founder of the digital design firm design butcher. Her multimedia digital art has been published & exhibited widely. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Piast Institute of Polish & Polish American Affairs, the Midwest Popular Culture Association and the Polish American Historical Association. Author of numerous educational web sites, she currently serves as National Vice President of the Polish American Historical Association. She lives with her family in 1928 Chicago bungalow.