Dr. James J. Ragan served for 25 years as Professor and Director of the Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.
LOS ANGELES, CA, February 07, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present James J. Ragan, Ph.D, Litt.D, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An internationally recognized poet, playwright, and screenwriter, Dr. Ragan celebrates 50 years' experience in writing and education and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Supported by more than 50 years of professional experience in education and writing, Dr. Ragan served for 25 years as Professor and Director of the Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. Prior to this appointment, he held Asst. Professorships in Creative Writing at Ohio University (1971-72), the American College in Athens, Greece (1973) and the University of Texas, El Paso (1979). During his tenure in education, Dr. Ragan also worked as a screenwriter for several prominent film producers, including Albert S. Ruddy Productions (producer of The Godfather) at Paramount Pictures, Arista Films, Kitty Films in Los Angeles and Paris, Kairos-Balkan Island Films, Fog and Desire Films in Prague, and Maccana Teoranta Films in Ireland.
Alongside his writing career, Dr. Ragan was honored further with Distinguished Visiting Professorships in Poetry and Film at Charles University, Prague each summer for 25 years, as well as at Cal Tech (1989-92), University of Oklahoma (2007), and Bowling Green State U. (2010). He was also awarded 2 Fulbright Professorships to teach at Lublyana University (Slovenia, 1984) and Beijing University (China, 1988). During this time he also served as a book reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and editor of the Southern California Anthology literary journal.
Drawing upon a B.A. from Saint Vincent College and a Ph.D from Ohio University, Dr. Ragan has excelled in his poetry with readings at the United Nations, Carnegie Hall and for 7 Heads of State, including an invitation from Mikhail Gorbachev to perform in 1985 with Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Bob Dylan for an audience of 8,000 at the 1st International Poetry Festival in Moscow. In addition to poetry in international journals, his 9 notable books include The Hunger Wall, Womb-Weary, Too Long a Solitude, and The Collected Poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko as well as the plays Saints and Commedia, staged in the U.S, Moscow, Beijing, and Athens etc. Moreover, Dr. Ragan has been the subject of over 100 articles in addition to interviews on CNN, PBS, C-SPAN and NPR. The Arina Films documentary on his life, Flowers and Roots: Ambassador of the Arts was awarded 19 Film Festival recognitions, including the Remi Platinum Prize at the Houston Int. Film Festival.
To remain aware of developments in his fields of interest, Dr. Ragan is a member of the Modern Language Assoc, the Modern Poetry Assoc, the Poetry Society of America, and the Writers Guild of America West and serves on the Boards of the Fred Rogers Center and the Phi Beta Kappa Assoc. in Los Angeles. In light of receiving such honors as the Emerson Poetry Prize, 9 Pushcart Prize nominations, London's Int. Troubadour Prize Finalist, a TV Telly Award, and the Swan Foundation Humanitarian Award, he is distinguished for his prestige with the James Ragan Collection, established at Ohio University's Alden Library. He was a grantee of the National Endowment of the Arts in 1974 and recognized with 2 Honorary PhD's (London's Richmond U. and St. Vincent College). In 1994 he was listed in Buzz Magazine as "one of the 100 Coolest People in Los Angeles."
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