Barbara A. Silliman

Contact: bsillima@providence.edu

Highest degree earned: Ph.D., University of Rhode Island

Current Employer(s): Providence College, Roger Williams University, RI College

Significant projects: Presenting in June 2021 at Popular Culture and American Culture Associations’ international conference on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Updating for publication my dissertation Conserving the Balance: Propaganda in Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Biography: I graduated from RI College with a double major in English and Theatre. After living in Los Angeles for several years, I realized that my true calling was teaching. I returned to RI and earned my MA in English from RIC, followed by my Ph.D. in American literature from the University of RI. I work closely with the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center, which included writing and directing two plays that were performed for RI middle and high school students. One was about the life and execution of Sophie Scholl and the other was about the children’s opera acted by the Jewish children in the “show” concentration camp Thereisenstadt. For that and for more than 20 years (at that time) of Holocaust education, I was awarded the “Never Again” Award from the Jewish Alliance of Greater RI. I am still an active member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA since 1985.

Courses taught: HUM 340: Studies in the Holocaust, ENG 194: Science Fiction, and HUM 370: Literature and Medicine