JIM FERRIS
Dr. Jim Ferris is a nationally and internationally recognized and award-winning professor of Disability Studies, specialist in Communication studies and Performance and poet He holds a doctoral degree in Performance Studies and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Director of the Disability Studies Program at the University of Toledo, Ohio. Since 2008, he has held the Ability Center of Greater Toledo Endowed Chair in Disability Studies. He is also past President of the Society for Disability Studies. In his academic and creative work, he has advocated a Humanities-based approach to Disability Studies. His poetry and essays have been published in many journals, including The 6eorgia Review, Text and Performance Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review and Disability Studies Quarterly. He is the author of the poetry collections The Hospital Poems (2004-recipient of the Main Street Rag Book Award), Facts of Life (chapbook 2005), and Slouching Towards Guantanamo (2011). He has been an invited artist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. His recent work, such as the solo performance “Scars: A Love Story,” combines poetry, visual arts, and music.