Departments: The Board
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Lynn Schlesinger
Lynn earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University and taught for 20+ years at SUNY Plattsburgh in upstate New York. She started taking Signum courses in 2013. With a research focus on material culture of Middle-earth, Lynn has entered her thesis phase of graduate study at Signum. She serves the Board as Student Representative.
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Sparrow F. Alden
Sparrow graduated from Bowdoin College in 1986 with a BA in English Literature and Psychology and from Signum University in 2015 with an MA in Language and Literature. She is co-owner/builder of a straw bale cabin in the New Hampshire woods with her wife Grace; they are grateful for the technology which keeps them in touch…
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Peter Rybski
Peter is a lifelong Tolkien fan who has spent more than twenty years in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and Nuclear Engineer. Peter is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Program and has a BS in Economics from the United States Naval Academy, a Masters in Engineering Management from Old…
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Matthew M. DeForrest
Dr. Matthew M. DeForrest is Interim Director of the Edward E. Crutchfield Center for Integrated Studies and Professor of English at Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). His recent published works have appeared in The Yeats Journal of Korea, The Yeats Annual, W. B. Yeats’s A Vision: Explications and Contexts, and Tolkien Studies. His recent presentations…
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Liza H. Gold
Liza H. Gold, MD is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Gold has a private practice in general and forensic psychiatry in Arlington, Virginia and is an award winning author and editor. Most recently, Dr. Gold edited and contributed to Gun Violence and Mental Illness (American Psychiatric Publishing,…
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Larry Swain
Larry Swain used to work in IT and libraries after receiving his B.A. in Religion-Greek and Linguistics. After 15 years, he earned an M.A. in Medieval Studies at the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University and then a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His academic work focuses on early medieval preservation and…
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Corey Olsen
Dr. Corey Olsen is the President of Signum University and Mythgard Institute. In addition to teaching classes on J.R.R. Tolkien, Chaucer, and modern fantasy literature for Signum, Dr. Olsen has extended the concept of the digital classroom to include non-traditional outlets. Through the Mythgard Academy, he offers free weekly lectures on works of speculative fiction…
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Andrew Higgins
Dr. Andrew Higgins received a PhD in 2015 from Cardiff Metropolitan University. His PhD thesis ‘The Genesis of Tolkien’s Mythology’ explored the first major expression of Tolkien’s mythology The Book of Lost Tales materials, with a specific emphasis on the interrelated nature of myth and language in Tolkien’s earliest world-building. He has currently just completed…