Laura Skandera Trombley, renown Mark Twain scholar and Pitzer College president, will speak on “Why Mark Twain Still Matters,” on Monday, March 10, at 4:15 p.m. in the Clark Humanities Museum on the Scripps College campus. A reception immediately follows. This event is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Mark Twain,” which features a collection of rare editions, manuscripts, letters and photographs based on the American writer’s works, currently on display in the Museum. The lecture, reception, and exhibition are free and open to the public; for more information and regular exhibition hours, please call (909) 607-3606.
Pitzer College President Laura Skandera Trombley has earned national notoriety as a Mark Twain scholar. She is author of numerous books on the famed American writer, including Constructing Mark Twain: New Directions in Scholarship, and she has served as president of the Mark Twain Circle of America, a group that sponsors scholar panels at the Modern Language Association’s annual conferences and produces a quarterly newsletter.
Where Twain scholarship is concerned, Skandera Trombley has gained recognition for her unique and controversial perspective: she soundly rejects the prevailing opinion that the women in Twain’s life were negligible to his success. She expanded on this idea in two of her works, Mark Twain in the Company of Women and the recently published Mark Twain’s Other Woman. Her commitment to and success in proving this theory won her the notice of distinguished documentary producer Ken Burns, who invited her to be one of 11 scholars and writers interviewed in his 2002 PBS film, Mark Twain. According to critics, Skandera Trombley’s on-camera commentary presents a solid case that Clemens defined America and Americans to the rest of the world.
Praise for Skandera Trombley’s contribution to Burns’ film was not only given by film critics; she was invited to attend a screening at the White House, where she had also been selected by First Lady Laura Bush to participate in literary symposium on American authors.
Laura Skandera Trombley assumed the Pitzer College presidency in July 2002, arriving with a history of extraordinary accomplishments in both higher education leadership and academic scholarship. Previously she served as the chief academic officer at Coe College, a private liberal-arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she demonstrated visionary leadership particularly in the design of a distinctive co-curricular graduation requirement: “The Coe Plan.” The plan, which emphasizes technology, leadership, and academic practicum, has gained recognition in academia as a successful model for peer liberal arts institutions.
Skandera Trombley holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English from Pepperdine University and a doctoral degree in English from the University of Southern California.
The Clark Humanities Museum exhibition “Mark Twain” incorporates a variety of printed materials drawn from the Special Collections at both Scripps’ Ella Strong Denison Library and the Honnold/Mudd Library of The Claremont Colleges. On display are examples of Clemens’ published works with an emphasis on A Tramp Abroad– for which Honnold/Mudd Library has original manuscript pages-rare editions and special editions of other Twain novels and short stories, manuscripts, news and magazine articles, letters, games, and other materials. “Mark Twain” is curated by Carrie Marsh, Special Collections Librarian at The Claremont College’s Honnold/Mudd Library.
The Clark Humanities Museum at Scripps College is housed in the Bette Cree Edwards Humanities Building. Linked to the Scripps’ Humanities Program, the Museum’s exhibitions reflect the concerns of faculty teaching in this area and often enhance specific course offerings. Clark Humanities Museum is located on the Scripps College campus in Claremont, and is open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information or for an exhibition calendar, please call the Museum Office, (909) 607-3606.