FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Bethany Fair, [log in to unmask]              

Dr. Jeff Friedman Named Allen Smith Visiting Scholar at Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Boston, MA (October 22, 2013) – The Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) is pleased to welcome Dr. Jeff Friedman as the Allen Smith Visiting Scholar for 2013-2014. Friedman is a distinguished dancer, choreographer, and educator and researcher in oral history theory, method, and practice in the performing arts field.

Friedman is currently an Associate Professor in the Dance Department at Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has lectured internationally and he has produced multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He is currently on the editorial board of the Korean Dance Research Journal. He will be involved in several upcoming initiatives at Simmons College.

“The Eros of Oral History” lecture and performance will be featured at 8:00pm on Friday, January 31, 2014 at Simmons College in partnership with the Boston Conservatory. The free event will feature a lecture about oral history in the performing arts discipline, including production of new primary source materials, such as recorded interviews, textual interpretations, as well as a performance from Friedman’s dance-based solo work titled Muscle Memory. The lecture and performance has received international acclaim throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and New Zealand. The event is open to the public.

An oral history 3-day intensive workshop will be offered March 7–9, 2014 at Simmons GSLIS. Although the workshop is free and open to the public, registration will be required, and will occur on a first-come, first-serve basis, with priority given to Simmons College GSLIS students, faculty, staff, and alumni.  Oral history advising and lectures will be presented on campus throughout the semester.

Friedman also founded the Legacy Oral History Program in 1988 to record, preserve and provide access to the life histories of the San Francisco Bay Area performing arts communities’ members. Legacy offers the largest collection of dance, music, and theater oral histories in the nation outside of New York City. Friedman has also recorded oral histories on commission from the New York’s School of American Ballet. For his Legacy efforts, Friedman received the Forrest C. Pogue and Steven V. Mink awards for service to the oral history field and the Isadora Duncan award for service to the dance field.  His teaching areas include dance studies, choreography, improvisation, and contemporary dance technique, as well as honors courses in oral history and performance. As a graduate director, Friedman is currently constructing new courses for the new master’s in fine arts degree in dance performance and choreography, which is intended to be offered at the Rutgers University Mason Gross School of Arts in January 2016.

Earlier, Friedman was a Visiting Lecturer at Auckland University’s dance program, and a senior research and teaching Fulbright Fellow in Frankfurt. In addition, Friedman was a dancer and choreographer based in San Francisco, California from 1979-1997, performing nationally and internationally with ODC/Dance and as a soloist for LOCUS Solo Dance.

The Allen Smith Visiting Scholars Program, which honors the memory of distinguished teacher and scholar Allen Smith, was established in 2009 by his family. Allen Smith Visiting Scholars are expected to be distinguished practitioners, educators, or researchers renowned for their work in reference, oral history, or the study of librarianship and information service in the humanities.

The nationally top ten ranked Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science is one of the oldest and largest library and information science programs in the United States. Founded in 1899, Simmons College is a nationally recognized university located in Boston that includes an undergraduate college for women, the nation’s first MBA program designed specifically for women, and graduate programs for women and men in health sciences, social work, library and information science, education, liberal arts, and communications management.