Alumni News

Recent Ph.D. alumnus signs book deal

Thomas MacFarlane (Ph.D., Music Composition, 2005) signed a book deal with Scarecrow Press/Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. He developed his doctoral dissertation, "The Abbey Road Medley: Extended Forms in Popular Music", submitted it, and it has been accepted for publication. Dr. MacFarlane's book focuses on the impact of recording technology on the compositional style of the Beatles.

Dr. MacFarlane has also written an article entitled, 'Sgt. Pepper's Quest For Extended Form' for The International Association for the Study of Popular Music, as part of a journal commemorating the 40th anniversary of the release of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. The journal issue is entitled 'Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today' Aldershot Ashgate [ISBN 978 0 7546 6249 5], and is being edited by Oliver Julien from the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). It is scheduled to appear in 2008.

Alumnus John Patrick Shanley wins Pulitzer Prize

NEW YORK (AP) — Doubt, the Broadway play by Oscar-winning writer John Patrick Shanley, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.

Shanley's play opened on Broadway to critical acclaim after an off-Broadway run. It tells the story of a confrontation between a nun and a Roman Catholic priest at a Bronx parish; she suspects the priest of molesting a male student.

Shanley, who has written a number of successful off-Broadway plays, captured the Academy Award for best screenplay for Moonstruck in 1988. Doubt is also the winner of the Tony Award for Best Play.

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