Mark Colvson joined the Sojourner Truth Library as Dean on July 9, 2012.

Previous experience: associate director of the James A. Cannavino Library at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y; associate director for library systems at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point; coordinator for curriculum and research support at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA.

Passions: addressing the unsustainable academic and educational publishing model; theatre and performance (long time amateur actor); music – singing, collecting, whistling (tastes run to classical, jazz, edm, pop, rock, ambient, new age, soundtracks, musicals… well you get the picture); our cultural distrust of difference, framed as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, religious intolerance, ableism, stigmatization of mental health problems, etc.; teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom

Convenes “Conversation One at New Paltz” an ongoing open conversation about the challenges of intolerance, exclusion, racism, sexism etc.  Open to all – committed to working to better understand our biases and the ways we can help change the world one conversation at a time.

Education: Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Haverford College (1981); Master of Library and Information Science from Drexel University (1989).

Alumnus of the Frye Leadership Institute at Emory University (2001)

Selected Publications

Knowledge is Power,” Presentation on information literacy and leadership for the Emerging Leaders Program, Marist College – February 2012

“Click and Double-Click, the Podcast,”  guest appearance, discussing podcasts, portable devices and ebooks – September 2005.

“Leadership in Libraries, Thoughts on the Frye Leadership Institute,” Presented at Tri-College Symposium, Bryn Mawr College – July 2003

“Collaborative Virtual Reference Services: The Tri-College Libraries Experience,”  Presented at EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic Regional Conferences – January 2003