Alvin "Al" Goldfarb is an American academic administrator who served as the tenth president of Western Illinois University from 2002 to 2011. From 1977 to 2002, he was on the faculty of the department of theatre at Illinois State University in Normal, where he was also chairman of the theatre department, dean of fine arts from 1988 to 1998, and provost and vice president for academic affairs from 1998.Rachel Hays
"WIU President Alvin Goldfarb to take office July 1,"
, ''Western Courier'', March 27, 2002."WIU's president says he's being treated for prostate cancer,"
Associated Press, Aug. 25, 2006."Western Illinois University picks ISU provost as new president," Associated Press State & Local Wire, March 8, 2002.Randy Gleason, "Goldfarb to be Illinois State provost; role as healer seen," ''Pantagraph'' (Bloomington, Il.), May 8, 1998.

Education

Goldfarb earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Arts and Mass Communication from Queens College, City University of New York. He then earned a Master of Arts in Theatre and Cinema from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

and a Ph.D. in theater history from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

Career

In 2006, Goldfarb announced that he was being treated for

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

and that a complete recovery was expected. At the July 2009 meeting of the WIU board of trustees, Goldfarb officially announced his intention to retire on June 30, 2011. It was announced that President Goldfarb would be succeeded as president of the university by Western's provost and vice president for academic affairs, Jack Thomas, who succeeded him on July 1, 2011.http://www.wiu.edu/connection/docs/09June12.pdf At Illinois State University, Goldfarb was involved in establishing an internship program with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and constructing new center for the performing arts. Goldfarb has researched and written extensively on the arts and on the Holocaust, of which his parents are survivors. He co-edited and contributed to the book ''Holocaust and Performance''. With Rebecca Rovit, he co-edited the book ''Theatrical performance during the Holocaust: texts, documents, memoirs'' (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. ).

Textbooks

He has written three widely used university textbooks on theater jointly with Edwin Wilson, a former Broadway theatre critic for '' The Wall Street Journal''. *''Living Theatre : A History'', **2nd edition. New York : McGraw-Hill, c1994. (alk. paper) **3rd edition *''Anthology of Living Theater'', **1st edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill, c1998. **2nd edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, c2001. **3rd edition. *''Theater: the Lively Art'' **1st edition, 1991, **4th edition, 2002, **6th edition, forthcoming,

References

External links

Western Illinois University press release – "Dr. Alvin Goldfarb Named Western Illinois University President"Western Illinois University – President Al Goldfarb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfarb, Alvin CUNY Graduate Center alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Historians of theatre Western Illinois University people Illinois State University faculty