Directory
Biography
Dr. Fridman is a writer and academic with a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and strong arts and interdisciplinary background. Her research has spanned Holocaust, trauma, black studies and, most recently, “psychological safety” in teamwork. Her book, "Words and Witness: Narrative and Aesthetic Strategies in the Representation of the Holocaust," appeared in 2000 (SUNY) and was a study of the techniques by which writers put experiences that exceed words, into words. She has also been drawn to neglected figures whose contributions were both stellar and unrecognized. Hence her work on the 19th century American black legislator and historian, George Washington Williams as well as the similarly unrecognized 20th century composer and pianist, Stanley Babin.
Dr. Fridman was privileged to have worked with the historian John Hope Franklin, Williams' biographer, for the last three years of Dr. Franklin's life. She put together a scholarly workshop on Williams that took place at the Cardozo School of Law in 2009. For a period of ten years in the latter part of composer-pianist Babin's life, she produced Babin's New York concerts and now directs the Babin Historic Recordings Project begun by the Pulitzer winning composer, Lee Hoiby (who considered Babin the greatest living pianist of his time). She initiated a website that serves as an archive of Babin's performances over his lifetime – all of them privately recorded and commercially unavailable. Upon Babin’s death in 2010 she collected all of Babin’s compositional oeuvre, six volumes of which have been published - with more on the way - by the Subito Music Corporation.
Fridman's creative writing includes plays and poetry. A CUNY Collaborative Grant resulted in the art book version of one of her plays in the style of the beautiful fifteenth century illuminated Passover Haggadah.
Her recent projects are deeply influenced by the work of Ohad Naharin, the artistic director of the BatSheva Dance Company, whose innovative approach to the body and to dance movement, known as Gaga, is the basis of two book projects: Journeys into Gaga and The Gaga Poems. Selections from the latter of Fridman’s poetry were the focus of a performance directed by the French director, Astrid Bas, at the Laba Theater in New York in 2017.
At Kingsborough, Fridman teaches Freshman English, Modern European Literature and 20th century non-Western World Literature.
At this time, a key focus for Fridman is the “Team As Support” pedagogy she evolved out of trainings in Landmark Education and TBL. She is now leading a team of professors she has trained in this pedagogy, collecting data on its efficacy in the classroom, presenting and writing about it for peer review and OER publication.
Education
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NEH Summer Seminar, Harvard University, |
2000 |
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CUNY Graduate School and University Center: |
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Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. Distinction. |
1991 |
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M.Phil. in Comparative Literature. |
1981 |
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Yeshiva University, B.A., English Literature. |
1970 |
College Teaching
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Kingsborough Community College. |
1991–2017 |
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Yeshiva University. |
1990–1991 |
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Baruch College, CUNY. |
1987–1990 |
Selected Publications and/or Other Resources
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Theater reviews and criticism at www.offoffonline.com. |
2015 to present |
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The Stanley Babin Society (music archive and website). Digital music archive of “The Stanley Babin Society: |
2011 - present |
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The Gaga Poems. "Into the Night." A poetry / dance performance directed by Astrid Bas at the Laba Theater, NYC. |
May 2017 |
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w/Hole in the Heart (play). Staged reading. The Sonnet Theater at The Producer's Club, NYC. |
July 2017 |
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w/Hole in the Heart. Staged reading. Neve Schechter, Tel Aviv. |
Jan. 2017 |
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The Babin Historical Recordings Project (see digital archive at web, www. stanleybabinsociety.org). |
Fall 2015 |
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"When Green Goldfish Sing," from The Gaga Poems. The Flatbush Review. |
Fall 2015 |
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w/Hole in the Heart. Starring Suzanne Toren.Metropolitan Playhouse, NYC. |
August 2014 |
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Un Trou Au Coeur. w/Hole in the Heart newly translated into French by Cheryl Weisberg. |
2013 |
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Ice Skating. The Drama Center and The Writer's Voice. Directed by Suzanne Toren. The Marjorie Dean Theater, NYC. |
June 2006 |
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w/Hole in the Heart Staged reading. The Next Stage, NYC. |
June 2005 |
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w/Hole in the Heart. Staged reading. Festival of the Arts. United Nations Committee on the Status of Women. NYC. |
March 2005 |
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w/Hole in the Heart: An Illuminated Play. Print-ready hand-bound art book designed in the style of mid-15th century illuminated manuscripts.Illustrations by JudithWilde, book design by Olga Mezhibovskaya. |
2005 |
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"Piotr Rawicz." Holocaust Literature. Ed. Lillian Kremer. Routeledge. |
2003 |
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"The Horror Of History," Reading Night. Ed. Wendy Mass. Greenhaven Press. |
2003 |
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Words and Witness: Narrative and Aesthetic Strategies in the Representation of the Holocaust. (SUNY). |
2000 |
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Conversations: A Newsletter on Pedagogy, Ed. L. Hamaoui (Fridman), Vol. 1 – 3. |
1996 - 1998 |
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"Art and Testimony: Representations of Historical Horror in Literary Works by Piotr Rawicz and Charlotte Delbo." Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature 3.2. |
Fall 1991 |
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“The Shape of Night.” Elie Wiesel: Between Memory and Hope. Ed. Carol Ritner. NYU Press. |
1990 |
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Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies. Ed. L. Hamaoui (Fridman), E. Fine, et al., Anti-Defamation League, B'nai Brith. |
1980-1990 |
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"Aharon Appelfeld's Badenheim 1939: A Study of an Image." Remembering for the Future. Ed. Yehudah Bauer. New York: Elsevier Science. |
1989 |
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"Narrative Strategies in the Representation of the Holocaust." Centerpoint: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 4.1. |
Fall 1980 |
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Centerpoint: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (Special Issue on the Holocaust). Ed. J. Gerber, E. Fine, L Hamaoui (Fridman), R. Lamont. |
Fall 1980 |
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"Sound as Image in Stevens' 'Not Ideas About the Thing But The Thing Itself.' "Comparative Literature Studies 17.3. |
Sept. 1980 |
Events / Key Dates / Conferences
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“The Possible Classroom: The New Physics of Teams and Teamwork in the Classroom,” Kingsborough Faculty Forum. |
May 2016 |
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Cardozo School of Law Conference (organized and led). “From The Slave System of the American South to the Forced Labor System of Leopold’s Congo,” sponsored by the Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies. (March 27 and May 3, 2009). |
2009 |
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“George Washington Williams: The Case of a Neglected American Hero,” sponsored by the Franklin Humanities Institute and the Duke Center For Human Rights, Duke University. Web podcast of my interview of John Hope Franklin available on the Franklin Humanities Institute website and on YouTube. |
October 2008 |
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“An Upriver Journey,” President’s Scholarly Forum. Kingsborough Community College. |
March 2007 |
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Cardozo School of Law, Program in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies, performance and panel discussion of Lea Fridman’s play w/Hole in the Heart. Starring Suzanne Toren with Abdul Mohammed and directed by Robert Kalfin; with panelists: Lillian Kremer and Bernard Schlink and co-sponsored by Kingsborough Community College. The Center for Jewish History, NYC. |
December 2005 |
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“Art and Political Violence in the Twentieth Century: An Approach to Freshman English.” BMCC Center for Teaching. |
April 1998 |
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Genocide and Denial: A Conference in Memory of Terrence Des Pres, Colgate University. Respondent. |
April 1997 |
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“The Story of the Whisper: Words, Limit and the Shape of Traumatic Utterance,” Religion, Politics and Cultural Dynamics. Cornell University. |
April 1994 |
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“Writing Identities: Fragmentation or Integration,” CUNY English Forum, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. |
Spring 1994 |
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“The Body as Witness: An Examination of the Prose Style of Charlotte Delbo,” International Assn. for Literature and Philosophy. University of California. |
May 1990 |
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“Poetics of Mourning,” International Assn. for Literature and Philosophy. University of Notre Dame. Respondent. |
May 1989 |
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“Film and the Holocaust,” International Association for Literature and Philosophy, University of Notre Dame. Respondent. |
April 1988 |
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“Symbol, Allegory and a Rhetoric of Intentionality,” American Comparative Literature Association. Graduate Student Conference in English, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. |
Oct. 1980 |
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“Works of Literature as Self-Contained Entities,” CUNY Conference in English, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. |
Oct. 1980 |
University Activities
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University Faculty Senate (elected alternate senator). |
2002 - 2006 |
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KCC Representative: CUNY Celebrates Diversity. |
Spring 2005 |
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CUNY Governance Leader designee to represent Kingsborough (UFS). |
2002-2004 |
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University Colloquium on Race, Class and Gender. |
1998 – 1999 |
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Chair and Liaison for the PSC CUNY Awards Program panel for English and Creative Writing panels (supervising the distribution yearly of approximately $300,00). |
1995 - 1998 |
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Chair of the Arts and Humanities Division, Executive Committee of the University Committee on Research Awards. |
1995-1996 |
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University Committee on Writing in the Disciplines, panel member. |
1994 - 1995 |
Department and College Activities
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Creative Writing Program Committee. |
2016 – present |
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Literature Committee. |
1998 - present |
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Coordinator: KCC Reads college-wide community reading program. |
2000 – 2012 |
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Chair of the Kingsborough Faculty Assembly responsible for work on governance and KCC Reads. |
2002 - 2006 |
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The Open Forum, English department (with Matthew Gartner). |
Spring 2005 |
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Antheon, faculty advisor for student literary arts journal. |
1995 – 2005 |
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Syllabi for World Lit. and European Lit. courses written for department. |
2003-2004 |
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Kingsborough, Faculty Assembly, Learn-In on the Genocide in Darfur. |
Dec. 2002 |
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Kingsborough Faculty Assembly, Learn-In on American Policy in Iraq. |
Dec. 2002 |
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Antheon Open-Mic Poetry and Arts Slam. Initiated and led these events. |
1999 – 2000 |
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Agenda Committee. |
1998 – 1999 |
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Editor of Conversations: A Newsletter on Pedagogy. This was a publication circulated within our department and across the University to encourage dialogue among English departments within the University. |
1995 - 1999 |
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Chair of English 12/24 Committee. Charged with the review and rewriting of the syllabi for these two required courses. |
1997 - 1998 |
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Curriculum Committee. |
1995 – 1998 |
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Developmental Sequence Curriculum Revision Committee. |
1993 – 1996 |
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Committee on Freshman English. |
1992 - 1993 |
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Freshman English Examination Committee. |
1992 – 1993 |
Awards Recognition, Distinctions and Grants
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Kingsborough Scholar’s Award, “The ‘Possible Classroom: The New Physics of Teams and Teamwork in the Classroom.” |
Fall 2015 |
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PSC CUNY Research Award, “Completing the Legacy.” |
April 2014 |
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Kingsborough Scholar’s Award, “John Hope Franklin: Historian, Survivor, Witness, American Scholar.” |
Fall 2012 |
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PSC CUNY Research Award, “John Hope Franklin: Biography of an American Scholar.” |
April 2011 |
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PSC CUNY Research Award, “George Washington Williams: American Hero.” |
April 2010 |
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PSC CUNY Research Award , “American Hero.” |
April 2009 |
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Kingsborough Scholar’s Award, “George Washington Williams.” |
Nov. 2007 |
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PSC CUNY Creative Writing Panel, American Hero (play). |
April 2007 |
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Presidential Faculty Innovation Award. |
Fall 2006 |
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Sundance Theater Lab Finalist (w/Hole in the Heart – play). |
2006 |
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PSC CUNY Ethnic and Area Studies Panel, “Indexing Genocide.” |
April 2006 |
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PSC CUNY Creative Writing Award, Ice Skating: A Courtroom Drama and Farce (play). |
April 2005 |
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CUNY Community College Collaborative Grant. w/Hole in the Heart: An Illuminated Play (with Judith Wilde, Art Department). |
April 2004 |
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PSC CUNY Creative Writing Award, When Green Goldfish Sing (poetry). |
April 2003 |
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PSC CUNY Research Award, “In the Blood Space of Mutuality: J. Hillis Miller’s ‘Heart of Darkness Revisited’ and the Critical Enterprise.” |
Spring 2000 |
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Honoree, CUNY Salute to Scholars. |
2000 |
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NEH Summer Seminar at Harvard University. “War and Memory: Representations of World War II and the Occupation in French Literature, Film and History. Directed by Susan R. Suleiman. |
July - August 2000 |
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Kingsborough Scholar’s Award, “In the Blood Space of Mutuality.” |
Spring 1999 |
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Kingsborough Scholar’s Award, “A Critical Survey of Notions of Witnessing in the Disciplines of Holocaust Studies.” |
Spring 1996 |
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Fellow, Jack P. Eisner Center for Holocaust Studies. |
1982-1983 |
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Fellow, Center for European Studies, CUNY Graduate School and University Center. |
1982 |
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Fellow, American Association of University Women. |
1981 - 1982 |
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“Distinction,” Comparative Literature Doctoral Oral Exams. Henri Peyre, presiding with Irving Howe and Rosette Lamont. |
Feb. 1980 |
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Fellow, Jack P. Eisner Center for Holocaust Studies. |
1979-1980 |
Institutional Affiliations / Professional Societies
Modern Language Association