STAC Co-Sponsors Events for World War I and America Initiative

St. Thomas Aquinas College will co-sponsor a series of events as part of World War I and America, a two-year national initiative of Library of America, presented in partnership with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the National World War I Museum and Memorial, and other organizations, with generous support from The National Endowment for the Humanities. The events are co-sponsored locally by St. Thomas Aquinas College, The Nyack Library, and the African American Historical Society of Rockland.

World War I: Lasting Impact

Art Exhibit & Reception

November 29, 2017, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Azarian McCullough Art Gallery, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Rt. 340 Sparkill, NY 10976

Talk by Harry Klancer of Infoage Science History Learning Center at 5:30pm

This exhibit is one way to view the images presented by a range of artists in Lasting Impact—a reimagining of what World War I and its legacy means to us today, and perhaps equally important, what we have learned or failed to learn from its enduring history. Participating artists and speakers: Andranik Aroutunian, Bruce Beyer, Reineke Hollander, Bo Kim, Harry Klancer, Jason Laning, Marie Edie Meeks, David Means, Andrew Stearns, Daniel Rothman and students in ART 228: History of Graphic Design- Amanda Fidlow, Ulyana Kitcmanuk, Emerald Perez, Kyle Reinhardt, Faralynn Sanchez, Dominique Smith, Christian Torgersen and Aida Torpey. The exhibit runs through December 18, 2018.

Coming Home— A Conversation in Black and White

With Veterans Service Organization, Rockland County. Q & A and audience participation.

November 30, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.

The Nyack Library, 59 South Broadway, Nyack, New York 10960

Speakers

Willie Trotman (U.S. Army, Vietnam 1968) is the Director of the NAACP Spring Valley and serves on the Board of Directors for AAHS—African American Historical Society Rockland County. He was the co-founder of the Black Action Alliance in 1985 and the co-founder of the Association for Black Leadership and Empowerment in 1995. He is an active participant in the Spring Valley NAACP, served as Vice President, and has been the President for the past four years. He is a member of the United Negro Scholarship Fund for Rockland County and has served on the Rockland County Human Rights Committee for several years. He is a Member of the Rockland County Civil Rights Hall of Fame and received the Buffalo Soldiers Award.

Gerald McCarthy (USMC, Vietnam 1966-67, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marines). Poetry and prose published in Carrying the Darkness: the Poetry of the Vietnam War, The Vietnam War in Stories, Poems and Songs, American War Poetry, and the recent We Gotta Get Out of This Place—The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War (Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 2016). Dr. McCarthy is currently a Professor of English at St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Talk by Bruce Beyer, Anti-War Activist

December 7, 2017

The Lougheed Library, St. Thomas Aquinas College at 1:00 p.m.

The Nyack Library at 4:00 p.m.

The day before his arrest at the Pentagon on October 21, 1967, Bruce Beyer returned his draft card to then-US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Over the next ten months he refused induction three times eventually taking sanctuary in his family church in Buffalo, NY. In 1970, convicted and awaiting sentencing for draft resistance, Beyer jumped bail and fled to Sweden, later immigrating to Canada. On October 20, 1977 Beyer returned to the US with his attorney, Ramsey Clark, Col. Ed Miller, the highest-ranking Marine Corps ex-POW, and fifty Vietnam vets to highlight the demand for Universal Unconditional Amnesty. He is a proud associate member of Veterans for Peace.

These events are free and open to the public. For more information contact Dr. Gerald McCarthy, Professor of English at St. Thomas Aquinas College, at gmcarthy@stac.edu.

St. Thomas Aquinas College is an independent liberal arts college located on 60 acres in Rockland County, NY which provides education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The College’s 2,800 full and part time students can choose from more than 100 different majors, minors, specializations, and dual degree programs across three Schools: Arts & Sciences, Business, and Education. The College is recognized by U.S. News & World Report in the Top-Tier for Regional Universities, by Colleges of Distinction in both its New York and Catholic editions, by Affordable Colleges Online as a top College in New York for Return on Investment, and is included as a Military Friendly School®. St. Thomas Aquinas College is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools; its School of Education is accredited by National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE); and its School of Business is accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE). For more information, visit www.stac.edu.