Vassar Info News

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY- The Vassar College Bookstore will host two author events in September. On Friday, September 25 at 10am, the first African-American female orthopaedic surgeon, Claudia Thomas (Vassar class of 1971) will speak about her memoir, God Spare Life, at the Vassar College Bookstore (time to be announced). The following day, Saturday, September 26, Vassar faculty member and author Michael Joyce will speak about his novel Liam's Going, during a tea in the Rose Parlor of Main Building at 4pm. Both events are free and open to the public. 

ABOUT DR. CLAUDIA THOMAS AND GOD SPARE LIFE

Dr. Claudia Thomas who graduated from the Yale Orthopaedic Program in 1980, is recognized as a pioneer in creating opportunities for African-American women and men in the medical field. In March 2008, she received the annual Diversity Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, who paid tribute to her promotion of racial equality and women's rights. This spring, she was the speaker during the college's 2009 Baccalaureate Service. 

While a student at Vassar, she was president of the students' Afro-American Society and participated in the 1969 takeover of Main Building. This event led to the formation of the Africana Studies department, now celebrating its 40^th anniversary.

Thomas has recounted this experience in her memoir God Spare Life (2007), itself a larger examination of gender, race, class, and faith in the turbulent 1960s. "All facets of American society should represent the gender and ethnicity of its population," Thomas wrote.

In her God Spare Life Dr. Thomas also recounts the struggle to follow her parents' strict training in excellence, at a time when, she noted, excellence was not a part of the greater vernacular. In a world bound by prejudice and anger, she said she learned the value of faith - faith in herself, faith in her upbringing, and faith in God.

Dr. Thomas earned her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1975 and completed her residency in general and orthopedic surgery at Yale in 1980, becoming first African-American female graduate of the Yale Orthopaedic Program and first female African-American orthopaedic surgeon in the United States. She served as assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at Johns Hopkins before moving to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, where she worked in a government hospital. In 1992, Thomas returned to Johns Hopkins, as assistant professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

In addition to the Diversity Award, Thomas is the recipient of the 2008 Spirituality and Medicine Award from Howard University Hospital, the Unsung Hero Award from the Baltimore branch of the NAACP, the Woman of the Year Health Services Award from the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, and the 2003 Women in Medicine Award from the National Medical Association Council on the Concerns of Women Physicians.

ABOUT MICHAEL JOYCE AND LIAM'S GOING

Professor of English and Co-Chair of the Vassar English Department Michael Joyce will read from his novel. Liam's Going, which The Compulsive Reader noted is "a book with both style and substance and a sense of poetry that illumines both the story and the reader. Michael Joyce is a major figure in our literature."

This work recounts the emotional journey experienced by two parents who recognize and project their lost dreams of youth onto their only child Liam, who is heading to college and eagerly anticipating his independence.

His first novel, The War Outside Ireland, received the Great Lakes New Writers Award, and was described by John Hawkes as "a tall tale, a family history, [and] a lyric meditation on the holy temper of the Irish mind . . ."

Over the past 20 years Joyce has also created acclaimed hypertext fictions, including afternoon, a story, and Twilight, A Symphony. Some of his other books in print books include: Othermindedness: the emergence of network culture; Of Two Minds: Hypertext Pedagogy and Poetics; and Moral Tales and Meditations.

Literary critic Hélène Cixous remarked that "Michael Joyce is a subliminal explorer - he sets off to explore mental regions that are generally neglected, as if they were forests or deserted islands. . . . This is the secret of great poetical writing."

Joyce will offer this reading of Liam's Going during Vassar's Freshman Parents Weekend. He will make a special presentation to Freshman Parents in addition to the reading. Tea will be served in the Rose Parlor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR SERIES AT THE VASSAR COLLEGE BOOKSTORE

The Vassar College Bookstore Faculty Author Series began during the 2009 spring semester, when Cathy Black-Benson (bookstore manager) and Sue Vinett (assistant manager) sought to highlight to both on-campus and off-campus students, families, residents, and professionals some of the richness of thought and accomplishment available at the campus bookstore. The series, which has expanded to include Vassar alumnae/i, will continue during through the 2009-10 academic year, with a detailed schedule to be announced.

If you are a local professional, educator, book club member, service provider, or parent, and would like to discuss an author event for your group, please contact Sue Vinett at (845) 437-5870. The bookstore welcomes the opportunity to work with you.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.