Rate My Professor Rich Gazan

Rich Gazan is Professor in the Library and Information Science Program and Program Chair of the PhD in Communication and Information Sciences in the School of Communication and Information at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He earned a PhD in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004, an MLISc in Library and Information Science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1998, and a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. Gazan's research investigates how people integrate information from diverse sources in professional settings like interdisciplinary scientific collaborations and informal environments such as social Q&A communities. His studies explore how individuals without shared contexts evaluate, reconcile, share, and perpetuate conflicting information, with specializations in interdisciplinary collaborations, online communities, and scientometrics. He conducted research with the NASA Astrobiology Institute, including sociotechnical document analysis and literature visualization during a sabbatical at NASA Ames Research Center.

Since 2004, Gazan has taught extensively at UH Mānoa, including courses such as CIS 720: Interdisciplinary PhD Seminar in Communication and Information Sciences, LIS 601: Introduction to Reference and Information Services, LIS 650: Management of Libraries and Information Centers, LIS 672: Technology for Libraries and Information Centers, and ICS 669: Social Computing. He has chaired dissertations and theses for graduates including Maggie Pulver (PhD CIS 2026), Sajja Koirala (PhD CIS 2025), Kauwela Valeho-Novikoff (PhD CIS 2024), Stanislava Gardasevic (PhD CIS 2024), and Anis Hamidati (PhD CIS 2023). Gazan has contributed to funded projects as principal investigator or collaborator, including Interdisciplinary Research Metrics in Astrobiology (NASA Astrobiology Institute Director’s Discretionary Fund, 2013), Online Q&A in STEM Education: Curating the Wisdom of the Crowd (Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2016-2020), Reaching Those Who Served (Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2017-2021), and Public Broadcasting Preservation Fellowship (Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2021-2023). Key publications include "Assessing Researcher Interdisciplinarity: A Case Study of the University of Hawaii NASA Astrobiology Institute" with Michael G. Gowanlock (Scientometrics 94(1), 2013), "Social Q&A" (Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 62(12), 2011), "Redesign as an Act of Violence: Disrupted Interaction Patterns and the Fragmenting of a Social Q&A Community" (CHI 2011), and "Seven Words You Can't Say on Answerbag: Contested Terms and Conflict in a Social Q&A Community" (ACM Hypertext and Social Media, 2016). Promoted to full Professor in 2017, he was re-elected LIS Program Director in 2023.