from Penn State Altoona
NOW:
ALTOONA - Educator, author, musician, music producer, and American
roots music and popular culture guru Jerry Zolten will receive the
spring 2010 Kjell Meling Award for Distinction in the Arts and
Humanities at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 15.
An Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Penn
State Altoona, Zolten's courses include the art of communication, the
cultural roots of rock 'n' roll, and stand-up comedy as social history.
In addition to two textbooks, numerous articles, and CD liner notes, he
is the author of the award-winning book "Great God A'Mighty! The Dixie
Hummingbirds/Celebrating the Rise of Soul Gospel Music." Zolten has
also produced two CDs, "Wreckin' the House" and "Beautiful Stars" and is
the co-producer, writer, and host of several nationally syndicated
public radio program specials, including "Chimpin' the Blues," "Boppin'
with Pekar," and "In the Spirit," a history of African American Gospel.
His latest published work is a chapter, "The Beatles as Recording
Artists," in the "The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles." Zolten is
currently developing several projects including a book about African
American preachers on phonograph records during the Depression era, an
authorized biography of the Blind Boys of Alabama, and a documentary
film about the Jewish community in an industrialized Western
Pennsylvania town in the 1960s.
Zolten will be honored with a ceremony at 7 p.m., in the Paul R.
and Margery Wolf Kuhn Theatre of the Misciagna Family Center for
Performing Arts, then present a lecture. The event is free and
open to the public.
Penn State Altoona initiated the Meling Award in 2006 to honor the
memory of its longtime associate dean for Academic Affairs, who passed
away in 2005. The award is intended to memorialize Meling's love of
literature and language and his unwavering support as an administrator
for the development of Penn State Altoona's faculty as scholars and
artists.
