Lois Holzman biography and CV

Lois Holzman, Ph.D.
Director
East Side Institute for Group & Short Term Psychotherapy
920 Broadway, 14th floor

New York NY 10010

Tel: 212-941-8906
Fax: 212-941-0511
lholzman@eastsideinstitute.org


Lois Holzman



Biography and CV

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Lois Holzman is the director and a founder of the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy, a New York City-based international research and training center for new approaches to human development and community. As a leading proponent of a cultural approach to human learning and development, she has made the writings of Lev Vygotsky relevant to the fields of psychotherapy, education and organizational development. She is well known for her pioneering work in exploring the human capacity to perform and its fundamentality in learning how to learn.

Holzman has helped to develop social therapy, the non-psychological approach to human development and learning created by Fred Newman. As Newman’s chief collaborator for over a quarter of a century, she is the leading expert on his work. She has been involved in the development of social therapeutic methodology, not only in psychotherapeutic practice, but also in the contributions it has made to education across the life span, youth development, medicine and healthcare, and organizational development and executive leadership. As an author, lecturer and trainer, she is in the thick of debates among postmodernists, activity theorists, critical psychologists and other philosophically and politically informed scholars on how to transform psychology into a radically humane and empowering practice.

Holzman has contributed to the development of the youth programs of the All Stars Project, Inc. from its earliest days, as a volunteer, pro bono consultant, researcher and bridge to the academic community. In addition to writing and speaking about the All Stars’ supplemental education/youth development programs, in 1993 she brought All Stars young people to Moscow to present at an international conference on Vygotsky, and in 2002 produced “Young People Learn by Studying Themselves: The All Stars Talent Show in Action,” a documentary video starring youth from the All Stars

Holzman has written or edited nine books and over sixty articles on human development and learning, psychology, education and social therapy; among them: Performing Psychology: A Postmodern Culture of the Mind; Schools for Growth: Radical Alternatives to Current Educational Models; Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary Scientist (with Fred Newman); and Psychological Investigations: A Clinician’s Guide to Social Therapy (with Rafael Mendez).

Holzman has been the organizer of three international cross-disciplinary conferences “Unscientific Psychology: Conversations with Other Voices” (1996), “Performing the World: Communication, Improvisation and Societal Practice” (2001), and “Performing the World 2: The Second International Conference Exploring the Potential of Performance for Personal, Organizational and Social-Cultural Change” (2003). In addition, she has initiated collaborative cultural / psychological / community-building projects among psychologists, social workers and educators from the United States, the former Yugoslavia, Sweden, Russia and other countries. She is particularly respected as an activist scholar who builds bridges between university-based and community-based practices, bringing the traditions and innovations of each to the other.

Before earning her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Columbia University in 1977, Holzman did graduate work in linguistics at Brown and Columbia Universities. As a postgraduate research fellow at Michael Cole’s Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition at Rockefeller University, she contributed to pioneering work on everyday cognition and the possibility of an ecologically valid psychology. She then joined the faculty of Empire State College, SUNY, where she taught for over a decade in the areas of human development, educational studies and community services. Her diverse career also includes serving as director of the Barbara Taylor School, a Vygotskian-based elementary school, which for twelve years was a living laboratory for the practice of developmental learning.

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology , Columbia University, 1977
Graduate Study in Linguistics , Columbia University and Brown University, 1968-1970
Bachelor of Arts, English , Rhode Island College, 1967

RESEARCH AND TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Director                                 present
East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy
New York
(Director of Research & Educational Programs, 1989-2001)

Research design and implementation, international collaborations, training for educational, cultural and mental health projects

Associate Professor, Human Development and Educational Studies Mentor, Academic/Career Counselor
Empire State College                              1979-1996
State University of New York

Visiting Associate Professor
New York University                               1995-1996
School of Education

Research Associate, Assistant Professor
Rockefeller University                               1976-1979
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
New York

Consulting
Research, writing, training, technical assistance, market research and organizational development assignments for social service, early childhood, psychology, education, health and mental health organizations.

Representative Providers and Clients

Community Literacy Research Project, Inc./All Stars Project, Inc., New York
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund (US), Washington, DC
Eureka University, Russia
Fountain House, New York
InnoNet, Strategic Planning for Non Profits, Washington, DC and New York
International Teachers Project, International Schools of Business, New York
Momentum AIDS Project, New York
Nancy Jones Enterprises, New York
Performance of a Lifetime, Inc., New York
Somerset Community Action Program, NJ
SUNY Women’s Council, Albany NY
Swedish Institute & Belarus National Institute of Education Democratizing Schools Project
Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute, FL
Zdravo da Ste, Yugoslavia

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Director
Barbara Taylor School 1994-1996
New York

President (pro bono)
Community Literacy Research Project, Inc./All Stars Project, Inc.
New York 1981-1989

HONORS
Faculty Development Award, NYS/UUP Professional Development and Quality of Working Life Committee (1995, 1993, 1986)

Empire State College Faculty Lectureship for Outstanding Scholarship (1982)

Visiting Psychologist, Moscow Institute of Psychology (Social Science Research Council) (1980)

PUBLICATIONS
(Lois Hood until 1983)

Books
Holzman, L. and Mendez, R. (Eds.), (2003). Psychological investigations: A clinician's guide to social therapy. New York: Routledge.

Holzman, L. and Morss, J. (Eds.), (2000). Postmodern psychologies, societal practice and political life. New York: Routledge.

Holzman, L. (Ed.), (1999). Performing psychology: A postmodern culture of the mind. New York: Routledge.

Holzman, L. (1997). Schools for growth: Radical alternatives to current educational models. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1997). The end of knowing: A new developmental way of learning. London: Routledge.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1996). Unscientific psychology: A cultural-performatory approach to understanding human life. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1993). Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary scientist. London: Routledge.

Holzman, L. and Polk, H (Ed.) (1987). History is the cure: A social therapy reader. New York: Practice Press.

Monographs
Hood, L. and Newman, F. (1979). The practice of method: An introduction to the foundations of social therapy. New York: Institute for Social Therapy and Research.

Hood, L. and Bloom, L. (1979). What, when, and how about why: A longitudinal study of early expressions of causality. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 44 (serial no. 6).

Cole, M., Hood, L., and McDermott, R. P. (1978). Ecological niche-picking: Ecological invalidity as an axiom of experimental cognitive psychology. New York: Rockefeller University, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition.

Bloom, L., Lightbown, P. and Hood, L. (1975). Structure and variation in child language. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 40 (serial no. 160). Reprinted in L. Bloom et.al. (1991), Language development from two to three. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 41-85.

Hood, L. (1977). A longitudinal study of the development of the expression of causal relations in complex sentences. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.

Chapters

Holzman, L. (2005). Performing a life (story). In G. Yancy and S. Hadley (Eds.), Narrative identities: Psychologists engaged in self-construction.[ pp. -113] London: Jessica Kingsley.

Holzman, L. (in press). Lev Vygotsky and the new performative psychology: Implications for business and organizations. To appear in D.M. Hosking and S. McNamee (Eds.), Organisational behaviour: Social constructionist approaches. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Holzman, L. and Newman, F. (2004). Power, authority and pointless activity (The developmental discourse of social therapy.) In T. Strong and D. Paré (Eds.), Furthering talk: Advances in the discursive therapies . Kluwer Academic/Plenum, pp. 73-86.

Holzman, L. (2000). Performance, criticism and postmodern psychology. In L. Holzman and J. Morss (Eds.), Postmodern psychologies, societal practice and political life. New York: Routledge, pp. 79-90.

Holzman, L. and Morss, J. (2000). A decade of postmodern psychology. In L. Holzman and J. Morss (Eds.), Postmodern psychologies, societal practice and political life. New York: Routledge, pp. 3-14.

Holzman, L. (1999). Introduction. In L. Holzman (Ed.), Performing psychology: A postmodern culture of the mind. New York: Routledge, pp. 5-34.

Holzman, L. (1999). Life as performance. In L. Holzman (Ed.), Performing psychology: A postmodern culture of the mind. New York: Routledge, pp. 49-69.

Holzman, L. (1999). Psychology’s untold stories: Practicing revolutionary activity. In La psicologia al fin del siglo. Caracas: Sociedad Interamericana de Psicologia, pp. 141-156.

Holzman, L. (1996). Newman’s practice of method completes Vygotsky. In I. Parker and R. Spears (Eds.), Psychology and society: Radical theory and practice. London: Pluto Press, pp. 128-138.

Holzman, L. and Newman, F. (1987). Language and thought about history. In M. Hickmann (Ed.), Social and functional approaches to language and thought. London: Academic Press, pp. 109-121.

Holzman, L. (1985). Pragmatism and dialectical materialism in language development. In K.E. Nelson (Ed.), Children’s language. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 345-367. Reprinted in H. Daniels, Ed., (1996), Introduction to Vygotsky. London: Routledge, pp. 75-98.

Hood, L. Fiess, K. and Aron, J. (1982). Growing up explained: Vygotskians look at the language of causality. In C. Brainerd and M. Pressley (Eds.), Verbal processes in children. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 265-286.

McDermott, R. P. and Hood, L. (1982). Institutional psychology and the ethnography of schooling. In P. Gilmore and A. Glatthorn (Eds.), Children in and out of school: Ethnography and education. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, pp. 232-249.

Hood, L. (1980). The role of imitation in children’s language learning. In G. S. Pinnell (Ed.), Discovering language with children. Washington, DC: National Council of Teachers of English.

Bloom, L., Hood, L., Lahey, M. and Lifter, K. (1978). Observational, descriptive methodology in studying child language: Preliminary results on the development of complex sentences. In G. P. Sackett, Ed., Observing behavior, Volume 1: Theory and applications in mental retardation. Baltimore: University Press, pp. 239-263.

Hood, L. (1977). The development of child language research. In J. T. Gutherie (Ed.), Cognition, curriculum and comprehension. Delaware: International Reading Association, pp. 101-112.

Bloom, L., Miller, P. and Hood, L. (1975). Variation and reduction as aspects of competence in language development. In A. Pick (Ed.), The 1974 symposium on child psychology. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 3-56. Reprinted in L. Bloom et.al., Language development from two to three. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 88-142.

Articles

Holzman, L. (in press). What kind of theory is activity theory? Theory & Psychology.

Holzman, L. (in press). Activating postmodernism. Theory & Psychology.

Holzman, L. (2005). Boundaries, relationships and diversity: Some ethical considerations. Child and Family Policy and Practice REview, 1,1, 18-22.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2003). All power to the developing! Annual Review of Critical Psychology , 3, 8-23 .

LaCerva, C., Holzman, L. Braun, B., Pearl, D. and Steinberg, K. (2002). The Performance of Therapy after September 11. Journal of Systemic Therapies. 21, 3 , 30-38.

Holzman, L. (2000). Performative psychology: An untapped resource for educators. Educational and Child Psychology, 17(3), 86-103.

Holzman, L. (2000). Performing our way out of postmodern paralysis. Psychologie in Österreich, 1/2000, 11-17.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2000). Against against-ism: Theory & Psychology, 10(2), 265-270.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2000). Engaging the alienation. New Therapist, 10(4).

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2000). The relevance of Marx to therapeutics in the 21st century. New Therapist, 3, 24-27.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1999). Beyond narrative to performed conversation (‘In the beginning’ comes much later). Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 12,1, 23-40.

Holzman, L. (1997). The developmental stage. Special Children, June/July, 32-35.

Holzman, L. (1995). Creating developmental learning environments: A Vygotskian practice. School Psychology International, 16, 199-212.

Holzman, L. (1995). Creating the zone: Reflections on the International Conference on L.S. Vygotsky and the Contemporary Human Sciences. School Psychology International, 16, 213-216.

Holzman, L. (1995). “Wrong,” said Fred. A response to Parker. Changes, An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 13,1, 23-26.

Holzman, L. (1994). Stop working and get to play. Lib Ed, 11, 8-12.

Holzman, L. (1993). The Rainbow Curriculum in democracy-centered schools: A new approach to helping children learn. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, 11, 3, 3-5.

Holzman, L. (1993). Notes from the laboratory: A work-in-progress report from the Barbara Taylor School. Practice, The Magazine of Psychology and Political Economy, 9, 1, 25-37.

Holzman, L. (1992). When learning leads development: Work-in-progress toward a humane educational environment. The Community Psychologist, 25, 3, 9-11.

Holzman, L. (1990). Lev and let Lev: An interview on the life and works of Lev Vygotsky. Practice, The Magazine of Psychology and Political Economy, 7, 3, 11-23.

Strickland, G. & Holzman, L. (1989). Developing poor and minority children as leaders with the Barbara Taylor School Educational Model. Journal of Negro Education, 58, 3, 383-398.

Holzman, L. (1987). People need power: An introduction to the Institute for Social Therapy and Research. The Humanistic Psychologist, 15, 105-113.

Holzman, L. (1987). Humanism and Soviet psychology: Friends or foes? Practice, The Journal of Politics, Economics, Psychology, Sociology, and Culture, 5, 6-28. Reprinted in L. Holzman and H. Polk, Eds., History is the cure.

Holzman, L. (1986). Ecological validity revisited. Practice, The Journal of Politics, Economics, Psychology, Sociology and Culture. 4, 95-135.

Holzman, L. and Braun, B. (1983). Reorganizing psychology. Issues in Radical Therapy, 7, 4-11.

Hood, L. (1982). The politics of autism: A socio-historical view. Topics in Language Disorders, December, 64-71.

Bloom, L., Lahey, M., Hood, L., Lifter, K. and Fiess, K. (1980). Complex sentences: Acquisition of syntactic connectives and the semantic relations they encode. Journal of Child Language, 7, 235-261. Reprinted in L. Bloom et.al. (1991), Language development from two to three. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 261-289.

Hood, L. (1980). Social psychology--East and West. A review of Soviet and Western perspectives in social psychology. Contemporary Psychology, 25, 929-930.

Hood, L., McDermott, R. P. and Cole, M. (1980). “Let’s try to make it a good day”--Some not so simple ways. Discourse Processes, 3, 155-168.

Cole, M., McDermott, R. P. and Hood, L. (1978). Concepts of ecological validity: Their differing implications for comparative cognitive research. Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Cognition, 2, 2, 34-37.

Hood, L. and Lightbown, P. (1978). What children do when asked to “say what I say”--Does elicited imitation measure linguistic knowledge? Allied Health and Behavioral Sciences, 1, 2, 195-219.

Hood, L. and Schieffelin, B. (1978). Elicited imitation in two cultural contexts. Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Cognition, 2, 1, 4-12.

Bloom, L., Rocissano, L. and Hood, L. (1976). Adult-child discourse: Developmental interaction between information processing and linguistic knowledge. Cognitive Psychology, 8, 521-552. Reprinted in L. Bloom et.al., Language development from two to three. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 437-471.

Bloom, L., Hood, L. and Lightbown, P. (1974). Imitation in language development: If, when and why. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 380-420. Reprinted in L. Bloom et.al. Language development from two to three. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 399-433.

Educational Videos
Young People Learn by Studying Themselves: The All Stars Talent Show in Action. New York: East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (2002).

The East Side Institute: A Center for New Approaches to Human Development and Community. New York: East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (2002).

Sexperts: Miscommunication about Teen Pregnancy. New York: East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (2000).

Performing in Kulasi. New York: East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (1999).

Vygotsky in Practice. New York: East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy (1997).

PRESENTATIONS

Lecturer, workshop leader, trainer at conferences and professional meetings in US and internationally. Listing for past years available on request.

2002

Psychology of Becoming: Performative Social Therapy and Postmodern Culture (An Interview with Lois Holzman). 110th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL, August.

Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development: The Human Activity Zone. Symposium, Therapeutic Rlationships as Construction Sites--Pragmatic, Multicultural and Ethical Considerations. 110th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL, August.

Consulting as Conversation: Postmodern Approaches. Division 13/Consulting Psychology Hospitality Suite, 110th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL, August.

Building Community, Making Meaning and Building a Meaning Making Community. Invited Lecture, Second Biannual International Conference on Personal Meaning: Freedom, Responsibility, Justice. Vancouver, British Columbia, July.

When Social Constructionism Meets Activity Theory. Invited Address, Celebrating Hope Through Dialogue: Systemic Social Constructionism in Action. University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, July.

Performing across Boundaries: The Activity of Creating New Cultures. Presentation, Dealing with Diversity: Fifth Congress of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June.

Creating a New Methodology across Cultural Boundaries. Presentation, Presentation, Dealing with Diversity: Fifth Congress of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June.

Practicing a Psychology that Builds Community. Keynote Address, APA Division 27/ Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Conference, Boston, March.

2001

Performing: The human activity through which we grow. Symposium, Theater and Performance: What They Tell Us about Psychology. 109th Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco CA, August.

Conversation as the performance of dialectics. Symposium, Conversation as Postmodern Humanistic Practice – Improvising, Performing, Transforming. 109th Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco CA, August.

Bringing improvisation to life and work (workshop). 109th Convention of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco CA, August.

Educational Leadership for Belarus. Training sponsored by the University of Umeä and the Swedish Institute. August, Piteä Sweden.

Learning, Development and Performance in Education. Lecture to teacher educators. University of Luleä. August, Luleä Sweden.

Learning in groups. International Teachers Program, sponsored by International Schools of Business Management and New York University Stern School of Business. July, New York NY.

Psychology at the Crossroads of “what is” and “what is becoming.” Symposium, The Role of Values in a Psychology without Foundations. Conference of the International Society of Theoretical Psychology. June, Calgary Alberta Canada.

Performance and improvisation for multi-disciplinary teams. Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute. June, Orlando FL.

Building community through performance. Harboring Hope in a Sea of Change. Conference sponsored by the University of New Hampshire & Taos Institute. June, Durham NH.

Improvisation for team-building. International Society for Sports Psychology. May, Skiathos Greece.

The Patient as Revolutionary: A Postmodern Approach to Emotional Growth. Lecture sponsored by New York College (SUNY). May, Athens Greece

Communication, conversation and team building A three-day training for educators and social workers. March, Banja Luka Bosnia-Herzegovina.