February 19, 2019 San Marino City Club Dinner Meeting
The featured speaker for the San Marino City Club’s February 19, 2019 meeting is Dr. Karen Lawrence, president of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Her talk is entitled, Greetings from Heaven. Dr. Lawrence will delve into the history of what’s made The Huntington so special for one hundred years and will provide the audience with a glimpse into what will keep it vibrant and exciting for the next hundred.
Karen R. Lawrence assumed her position as the ninth president of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens on September 1, 2018, following a decade as president at Sarah Lawrence, a small, highly regarded liberal arts college in Yonkers, NY. At Sarah Lawrence she is credited with weathering the 2008 financial crisis with smart management and effective leadership, moving the institution into a period of strong growth and performance as well as increased student body diversity. She led the most successful fundraising campaign in the college’s history, culminating in the building of the Barbara Walters Campus center, scheduled to open in 2019 (and the largest gift in the college’s history from one of its most famous alumni).
President Lawrence’s Huntington position marks her return to southern California, where she led the School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as its dean from 1998 to 2007. Throughout her career, she has been a forceful advocate for the liberal arts. She currently serves on the board of The National Humanities Center in the Research Triangle, North Carolina.
A widely respected English and Irish literature scholar and teacher, President Lawrence continued to teach at both Sarah Lawrence and The University of California, Irvine. She has served as president of the International James Joyce Foundation and the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature. Her books include The Odyssey of Style in Ulysses (1981;1986); Decolonizing Tradition: New Views of 20th Century British Literary Canons (1991); Penelope Voyages: Women and Travel in the British Literary Tradition (1994); Transcultural Joyce (1998); Who’s Afraid of James Joyce? (2010); and Techniques for Living: Fiction and Theory in the Work of Christine Brooke-Rose (2010). She currently serves as Adjunct professor of English at The University of Southern California.
President Lawrence is married to Peter F. Lawrence MD, who serves as Chief of the Vascular and Endovascular Division and director of the Gonda Vascular Center at UCLA. The Lawrences have two grown children, Andrew and Jeffrey.
City Club members may RSVP online below, or by emailing cityclubrsvp@gmail.com, or by calling (626) 765-4411 and leaving a message with the member’s name and the full name of any guest whom the member wishes to invite. PLEASE NOTE: This special event will be held at the Huntington Gardens at the Haaga Hall, which is inside the entrance to the Gardens on the east side of the main walkway. The cost to City Club members will be $20.00. The cost for guests and non-members will be $45.00. Fees are payable at the door by cash or check or credit card. City Club members will be there to welcome you at 5:00 pm. The Social Hour will begin at 5:30, and the dinner announcements will begin at 6:30. For more information on this event, please visit the City Club’s website at www.sanmarinocityclub.com.
The San Marino City Club is a non-profit civic organization that since 1926 has been dedicated to obtaining for the citizens of the San Marino the best civic, educational and cultural services and facilities possible, and to encouraging and promoting the highest standards of citizenship among its membership. City Club membership is open to residents of the San Marino Unified School District, officials of the School District or the City of San Marino, and persons who conduct their business or profession within the School District. Membership provides the member with eight dinner meetings that feature timely, important, and informative speakers on a wide variety of subjects, and the opportunity to meet many of San Marino’s wonderful citizens. More information on City Club (including information on how to join the Club) is available on the City Club’s website at www.sanmarinocityclub.com.