Faculty and Staff
Donald Crafton
Professor, Department Chair
B.A., University of Michigan
M.A., University of Iowa
Ph.D., Yale University
Donald Crafton holds an endowed chair in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, and has been the chairperson of the department since fall 2008. He is a specialist in film history and visual culture. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, his master’s degree from the University of Iowa, and a master’s and doctorate from Yale University. He was the founding director of the Yale Film Study Center, and served as director of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. Crafton chaired the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at Notre Dame from 1997 to 2002, and the Department of Music from 2004-2007.
Crafton's research interests are in film history and visual culture. His most recent publication is The Talkies: American Cinema's Transition to Sound, 1926-1931 (California, 1999). He was named Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 and was the recipient of an NEH Fellowship for 2003-04. The World Festival of Animation presented him in 2004 with an award for his contributions to animation theory. He received the University of Notre Dame's Presidential Award in 2007.