John Slifko

A native of Pennsylvania, John Slifko is a scholar interested in integrating the fraternal bond of the Freemasons with academic pursuits. In October 2010, Mr. Slifko accepted his current position as Co-Director of the Roosevelt Center for the Study of Civil Society and Freemasonry in Los Angeles, California. His responsibilities include lecturing on a variety of topics, fundraising for scholarships, and researching and developing resources for students and faculty interested in Freemasonry. John Slifko holds a strong record for the promotion of Freemasonry and academia. In 2009, as a graduate student facilitator, Mr. Slifko brought together the University of Sheffield and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), creating a Memorandum of Understanding between the two universities concerning the study of civil society and Freemasonry. That same year, Mr. Slifko served as a Film Consultant for Hunting the Lost Symbol, a movie about Freemasonry that was featured on the Discovery Channel. John Slifko has written a number of works related to Freemasonry. He presented his paper “Louis Goaziou and the Introduction of Women in Freemasonry in the United States” at the Université de Bordeaux et Musée d’Aquitaine in 2010. In 2011, Mr. Slifko wrote encyclopedia and dictionary entries for early American Freemasons and printer-journalists such as Hezekiah Niles, Isaiah Thomas, John Dunlap, Benjamin Russell, and Philippe Freneau. Later this year, he will present his paper “Laying of the Cornerstone Ceremonies in Early America: Aspects of Historical Geography” at the Third International Conference of the History of Freemasonry in Washington, D.C.