Richard Halleck Brodhead (b. 1947) is a scholar of 19th-century American literature and an educator. He is usually called Dick.

He was born in 1947 in Dayton, Ohio. His family moved to Fairfield, Connecticut when he was six years old, where he attended public school. He went on to attend Phillips Andover Academy, and was a graduate of Yale College in 1968. He was granted a Ph.D. in English from Yale Graduate School in 1972. He married Cynthia Degnan, a classmate at graduate school

He was appointed a professor of English at Yale, awarded tenure in 1980, and became Director of Undergraduate Studies in English. He became a full professor in 1985, and was Chairman of the English department. He was appointed Dean of Yale College in 1993 and served until 2004.

During his deanship at Yale, Brodhead was known for being a brilliant speaker and an involved and dedicated dean. Together with current Yale President Richard C. Levin, Brodhead oversaw a major curricular review at Yale.

In his role as professor, Brodhead saw controversy after the 1996 grade-strike called the union of graduate student-employees at Yale, GESO. Brodhead was accused of putting those students of his who participated in the strike on a blacklist by writing them negative letters of recommendation. The charges were never proven, although he was cited in an NLRB decision.

He left New Haven in 2004 to become President of Duke University.

Preceded by: Nannerl O. Keohane

Presidents of Duke University

Succeeded by: In office