Treasures of Irish Heritage at Mount

Treasures of Irish Heritage, a free public event, will bring a bit of the Emerald Isle to the Hudson Valley, February 19, 2012 from 1 to 5 pm.

Sponsored by Mount Saint Mary College’s philosophy and religious studies department and The Irish Heritage Festival of Orange County, the program will be held on campus in Hudson Hall, 330 Powell Avenue, Newburgh.

Thomas Martin, associate professor of liberal arts and humanities at Sullivan County Community College, will deliver the keynote address, “The Vikings and the Celts in North America.”

An expert in social and linguistic global affairs, Martin is proficient in more than 12 languages. A former international journalist, he lectured on American and European history at National University of Ireland at Galway, from which he earned his PhD in European history.

Mount Saint Mary College faculty members are among the workshop presenters.

James Finn Cotter, a professor of English who joined the Mount in 1963, is a published author, poet and theatrical reviewer who will speak on Irish-America and poetry.

Sr. Peggy Murphy, OP, a professor of religious studies who teaches about world religions and Dominican spirituality, will present on Celtic spirituality and the Irish influence in America.

Daniel Shea, an associate professor of English who teaches about the Irish Renaissance, will focus on romance and rebellion in Irish literature. During the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) at the Mount, Shea advised Laura Lamica, an English major from New Windsor, N.Y., who compiled the first anthology of the Irish literary revival. “A Documentary History of the Irish Literary Revival: From the Land League to Independence” was comprised entirely of primary source materials, according to James Moran, assistant professor of biology and SURE program director, September 22.

Maureen Morse, a first-generation Irish-American who has studied at the Irish Language Institute in Westchester, will lead a workshop on Irish language.