Biography – Dr. Bruce Mann
For seven years, Dr. Bruce Mann served as Dean of Liberal Arts on the Annandale
campus of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), leading faculty in the fine arts
and humanities, social sciences, physical education and recreation and parks. A
hands-on administrator, he expanded course offerings, helped stage concerts for the
student/community orchestra and its brass ensemble, worked to recognize faculty and
student achievements, and headed a task force on student athletics. During his tenure,
enrollment at NOVA increased dramatically, and he coordinated the hiring of more than
25 new full-time faculty members. Previously, Dr. Mann taught at Oakland University in
Rochester, Michigan, becoming English Department chair in 2002. While there, he
promoted talks and readings by writers, including Billy Collins, Marge Piercy, and
Elmore Leonard, and he co-chaired the committee to establish a writing center.
A North Carolina native, Dr. Mann holds two degrees from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. degree in English from the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor. His teaching interests center on modern American drama, and he has
edited a book on playwright Edward Albee and published articles on late style in the
works of Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams. In Michigan, he served as a drama
consultant for Meadow Brook Theatre, and more recently, he worked with directors and
cast members for two productions at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He is the
recipient of NOVA’s 2011 Outstanding Service to the College Award and Oakland’s
Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Mann is married to Katharine, a legal administrator,
and their son, Kelly, lives with his wife, Anne, and their two daughters in Charlotte,
North Carolina.
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