Speakers

James A. Michener Centennial Celebration

Speaker Biographies

John Dietz is Geography Professor Emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado where he taught Colorado, Economic, US-Canada, Russia and China from 1967-2002. A James Michener fan since Hawaii in 1960, he was thrilled when Centennial in 1974 had many parallels to his Colorado Geography course and in the months/years that followed presented some two hundred community programs on the comparison. He has been a board member for the James A. Michener Society and in retirement continues to give Michener/Colorado lectures in Elderhostels and has an on-line Colorado Geography class for UNC.

Richard Gibboney is a long-time Michener researcher with interests in Michener’s connection to genealogy & family history, maps & geography, music & art, and humor & politics. He has a regular column in the James A. Michener Society Newsletter.

James Magnuson, James A. Michener Center for Writers director, is the author of ten novels, including Without Barbarians, Ghost Dancing, Windfall, and The Hounds of Winter. Former Hodder Fellow and playwright-in-residence at Princeton University (plays: Squanto, Slingsong, Game Time), he's also been TV series writer for Knots Landing, Class of '96, and Sweet Justice.

Stephen J. May is the author of the 2005 biography "Michener: A Writer's Journey." He has lectured on Michener around the world, most recently at the Honolulu Academy of Art in Hawaii and the Chesapeake Bay Museum in St. Michael's, Maryland. He helped design and curate the Centennial exhibition at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and has authored articles on Michener for Texas Highways, Pennsylvania, and Hawaii magazines.

Ken McConnellogue is associate vice president for university relations at the University of Colorado. Before that, he spent 14 years at the University of Northern Colorado in various communications and public relations positions. He is the former editor of the James A. Michener Society Newsletter.

Marilyn S. Severson is Emerita Professor of European Studies-French at Seattle Pacific University. She is the author of James A. Michener: A Critical Companion (Greenwood, 1996) and Masterpieces of French Literature (Greenwood, 2004). In addition to continuing her interest in Michener, she is enjoying traveling, tutoring, supervising student interns, and exploring new opportunities in retirement.

Ken Womble has been researching James Michener for almost two years, and is privileged to have written and directed James A. Michener, An Epic Life. His other work as writer and director include the documentary Wally Huntoon, A Life By Design, and adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet. Ken is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Northern Colorado.