Jean Hardy

Jean Hardy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media & Information and assumed the role of Associate Director of the Quello Center in 2025. His research focuses on the role of high-tech innovation in rural economic and community development. Some current projects in this area focus on: the role of the high-tech economy in rural economic development activities; the adoption and use of information technology in community-based agricultural organizations; the use of design methods to train rural policy makers to support digital equity interventions; and how digital technologies can contribute to capacity building in under-resourced organizations. Hardy’s formative work in rural computing has been published in prestigious venues for information and computer science, such as Information, Communication, & Society, the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, and Information Technology for Development.

Hardy regularly collaborates with civic leaders and economic developers throughout rural Michigan on topics related to the future of rural development. He holds a Doctorate and Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Theory from the University of Washington.