Dr. Jack Sullivan, professor of English and director of the American studies program at Rider University, received the 2005 Dominick A. Iorio Award for Faculty Research on November 5 during the University's Founder's Day ceremony.

(left to right) Dr. James Castagnera, Dr. Jack Sullivan and President Rozanski

Named in honor of the late Dr. Dominick A. Iorio, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Rider, the award recognizes distinguished faculty scholarship and research. Nominations for the award come from the faculty and are reviewed for final selection by a faculty committee. Dr. James Castagnera, associate provost, presented the award to Sullivan, who also gave the faculty address.

"I am deeply grateful for this award," said Sullivan. "Writing and research are an essential part of my life, almost as vital as eating and breathing. My books grow out of my teaching, so I am doubly grateful to Rider for honoring me with this award and for giving me the opportunity to teach such a rich variety of courses to so many wonderful students."

Joining Rider University's English faculty in 1983, Sullivan was named director of the American studies program in 1991. Since Rider's merger with Westminster Choir College in 1992, he has also taught writing composition courses and American studies courses. Throughout his tenure on both campuses, Sullivan has made his mark for his innovative teaching and for conceptualizing and teaching travel courses featuring the talent of Rider's Westminster Choir at the Spoleto USA Festival in Charleston, SC, and significant music venues in New Orleans. Open to students, alumni, faculty and staff, the one-week courses have exposed all participants to various forms of American music and its rich history.

Sullivan is author of "New World Symphonies" (Yale University Press, 1999) and the editor of "Words on Music" (Ohio University Press, 1990). He has also frequently contributed as a reviewer to The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Record Guide and Opera Magazine. He has also written for Musical America, The Boston Globe, USA Today, The New Republic, Newsday, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. His forthcoming book, "Hitchcock's Music," will be published in fall 2006 by Yale University Press.

A native of Greenville, SC, Sullivan was an active participant in the early civil rights movement as one of the white southern college students who worked on behalf of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's mission. He was one of the student activists featured in Struggle for a Better South: The Southern Student Organizing Committee , by Gregg Michel (MacMillian, 2004).

Sullivan earned his bachelor's degree in English from Furman University in Greenville in 1969. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City and studied at Columbia University from which he received a master's degree in English in 1970, a master's of philosophy in 1974 and a doctorate in English in 1976. Prior to arriving at Rider, he taught at New York University, New School for Social Research and Columbia University.