Thursday, February 14, 2008

Oral Historian/Radio Host Buckley Joins Washington College's C.V. Starr Center Team

Chestertown, MD — Washington College is pleased to announce that Michael Buckley, an accomplished program/arts administrator, journalist and radio host, is the new Program Manager of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

Buckley will develop, orchestrate and publicize the Starr Center's many public programs, as well as create new opportunities for Washington College students.

Buckley has served as founding member and Managing Director of the American Historical Theatre, Public Relations Coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival, founder of the Philadelphia Town Meeting, Program Coordinator of the New York Open Center for the Arts and Humanities and co-producer/host of "Chesapeake Songs and Stories" at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

He has worked as an administrator and stage technician for a variety of other institutions, including the Brooklyn Arts Council, Los Angeles Contemporary Music Festival, Cirque du Soleil and the Royal Shakespeare Festival.

He is a frequent contributor to the Annapolis Capital, and gave the keynote address at the Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region (OHMAR) conference hosted at Washington College last spring.

For the past 14 years, Buckley has been an acclaimed weekend radio host on WRNR (103.1 FM) in Annapolis. His show, which airs from 7 to 10 a.m. on Sundays, features both an eclectic blend of folk, rock, jazz, classical and world music and Buckley's highly regarded interview series, "Voices of the Chesapeake Bay."

For this series, Buckley crisscrosses the region, interviewing some of its most fascinating residents: farmers, Native Americans, watermen, writers, politicians. (He even interviewed "Little Miss Crustacean" from the Crisfield Crab Derby.)

The show, which also airs on WINX (94.3 FM) in Easton, has been recognized with two Governor's Citations for Community Service and several "Best of Baltimore" awards from the Baltimore City Paper.

Buckley's interviews have been collected in both a boxed set of 10 CDs and a book, Voices of the Chesapeake Bay, which will be published in March.

"I'm thrilled to be coming to Chestertown to work with the students of Washington College," said Buckley, who plans to get undergraduates involved in his radio show, and to mentor those who are interested in oral history.

"Michael Buckley's presence at the Starr Center will open up new ways for students to explore the American experience, especially the rich culture of the Chesapeake region," said Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the Starr Center. "The Center's approach has always been broadly interdisciplinary, and Michael's background in music and the arts exemplifies this."

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, founded in 2000, is an innovative center for the study of history, culture and politics, and fosters excellence in the art of written history through fellowships, prizes and student programs.

Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college chartered in the new nation.

February 14, 2008

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