Project Director, Arkansas
David Jolliffe is professor emeritus of English and, by courtesy, Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, where he was the initial occupant of the Brown Chair in English Literacy. He earned a B.A. in English, magna cum laude, from Bethany College in 1974; an M.A. in English from West Virginia University in 1980; and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas in 1984. Jolliffe taught at West Virginia University, Bethany; the University of Texas; the University of Illinois at Chicago; and DePaul University.
He moved to Fayetteville in 2005 to inaugurate the work of the Brown Chair, whose mission is to promote critical and effective literacy among Arkansans in all walks of life.
He has performed with The Classical Edge Theatre Company, which offers free, outdoor productions of William Shakespeare’s works in Northwest Arkansas and throughout the state; and he initiated the Latin/x Youth Theatre Project and produced a new play called FOLLOW ME@TIO SAM. His office sponsors the Arkansas Studio Project, which offers arts-infused literacy-enrichment activities in secondary schools in Springdale, Arkansas. David reads in the Prison Story Project’s On The Row staged reading, and was instrumental in coordinating University tours of On The Row.