|
| |
Founding Members:
 Dr. William Ferris,
Chair
Dr. William Ferris holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from the
University of Pennsylvania and currently serves as the Senior Associate Director
of the Center for the Study of the American South and the Joel R. Williamson
Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill. An Adjunct Professor in the curriculum in Folklore, Dr. Ferris
teaches in the
U.S. South, with emphasis on folklore, literature, and documentary studies.
Dr. Ferris authored and edited several books about the study of the Delta,
including the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture which he co-edited with
Charles Wilson.
Dr. William Ferris, author of over 100 publications in
fields of folklore, American literature, fiction, and photograph, is the former
director for the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was
made a "Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters" in 1994 by the French
government, and in 1995 he was given the Charles Frankel Award by President Bill
Clinton. Ferris has served as a consultant to The Color Purple,
Crossroads, and Heart of Dixie, and has produced several documentary
films of his own, including "Hush Hoggies Hush". Dr. Ferris
has made over 225 presentations to audiences in 14 countries and was named one
of the top 10 teachers in the nation by Rolling Stone magazine in 1991.
Dr. John Roberts, Board Member
Dr. John Roberts, who served as the Deputy Chairman for the
National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, DC, 2000-2001, currently serves as a Professor of English
and the Associate Dean of the College of Humanities at Ohio State University in
Columbus, Ohio. He also served as chair for the Department of African
American and African Studies at Ohio State University 1998-2000 and was the
Director of the Afro-American Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania
1988-1996.
A past President of the American Folklore from 1997-1999, Dr.
John Roberts teaches in African American literature
and folklore, American fiction and folklore, folklore theory. Dr. Roberts has
authored several books including From
Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom and is
currently working on African American Folklore in a Discourse of Folkness.
Dr. Roberts has published several books, and numerous articles, book reviews, and papers on African-American
literature and American folklore.
Barbara Franco, Board Member
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the
Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, Barbara Franco has been working
in museums and historical organizations since 1966. She began her museum career
as Curator of Decorative Arts at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica ,
New York , and then worked as curator, coordinator of exhibits, and assistant
director at the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington , Massachusetts
from its opening in 1975. From 1990 to April 1995 she served as Assistant
Director for Museums at the Minnesota Historical Society, with responsibility
for the educational programs, exhibitions and museum collections in a new
History Center that opened to the public in the fall of 1992. From 1995 to 2003
she served as President and CEO of The Historical Society of Washington, D.C.,
where she played an active role in promoting community history and heritage
tourism. She headed up the project to create the City Museum of Washington,
D.C., which opened in May 2003 at the renovated Carnegie Library building at
Mount Vernon Square . Her current position is Executive Director of the
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the official history agency of
Pennsylvania and one of the largest and most comprehensive state history
organizations in the country. The Commission is responsible for the
preservation, interpretation and promotion of Pennsylvania 's past.
Ms. Franco has had extensive experience in
exhibition development and has published catalogues, articles, and given
presentations on a number of topics that include historical interpretation,
museum practice and historical research.
|
