National Endowment for the Humanities Appoints Three New Division Directors
Bruce Cole, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), announced today the appointment of three new directors for the Endowment’s divisions of Preservation and Access, Education Programs, and Public Programs.
“This talented trio of scholars and leaders brings to the Endowment many years of personal and professional commitment to excellence in the humanities,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. “Their experience and knowledge will ensure the continuation of the outstanding work done by the NEH’s grant-making programs.”
Suzanne M. Lodato will become the new Director of the Division of Preservation and Access in September. Ms. Lodato comes to the NEH from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she has served as an associate program officer in the Scholarly Communications Program since June 2000. At the Mellon Foundation, she worked on a wide range of grants that spanned library technology, cataloging, electronic publishing, scholarly electronic resources, and research concerning current trends and issues in scholarly communication. Ms. Lodato is a founding member and vice-president of the International Association for Word and Music Studies (WMA). She has edited two WMA proceedings volumes, published a number of articles on song and song cycle analysis, and authored entries for The New Grove History of Music and Musicians (second edition), the Reader’s Guide to Music: History, Theory, and Criticism, and the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Europe: 1914-2004. Ms. Lodato received a B.M. from San Jose State University, an M.A. from Hunter College, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.
William Craig Rice will become the new Director of the Division of Education Programs in September. Since 2004, Mr. Rice has served as the 12th president of Shimer College, and as a professor of English, education, and humanities for the College. From 1992 to 2001, he received numerous awards for teaching in the Expository Writing Program at Harvard University. Mr. Rice has also taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, Tyler School of Art, and Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, and worked as an Alfa Romeo auto mechanic. He is the author of Public Discourse and Academic Inquiry, as well as over 50 essays, articles, poems, stories, and reviews in books and periodicals. He has contributed to education reform efforts with the American Enterprise Institute, the American Diploma Project, and the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence. Mr. Rice took his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, and received an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
As new division directors, Ms. Lodato and Mr. Rice join Thomas C. Phelps, who was appointed last month as Director of the Division of Public Programs. Mr. Phelps had served as the Division’s acting director since November 2006. He has been at the NEH since 1980, serving as a program officer for grants to libraries, library associations, systems, consortia, and library schools, as well as to historical societies and museums, and to independent producers and publicly supported radio and television stations. Before coming to the Endowment, Mr. Phelps was the deputy director of the Salt Lake City Public Library. He has worked for the College Entrance Examination Board, as well as serving as a project director on grants from the Kellogg, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations. He has written and published poetry, short stories, and children’s plays. Currently he is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maryland’s College of Library and Information Services, where he teaches classes in administration and management for the information professional. Mr. Phelps received a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from Utah State University, and an M.L.S. from the University of Oregon.
Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities is available on the Internet at www.neh.gov.