FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Gita Brown, 401-456-8465, gbrown@ric.edu
Laura Hart, 401-456-8977, lhart@ric.edu
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Based on her recent book, “The Chemical History of Color,” Professor of Chemistry Mary Virginia Orna of the College of New Rochelle will deliver the 2014 Richard K. Gehrenbeck Memorial Lecture at Rhode Island College on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 8 p.m. in Clarke Science 125.
This lecture, titled “Fashion, Pharmaceuticals, Food and Fun,” traces the history of naturally occurring and chemically produced color, beginning with the first recorded use of color to the development of the modern chemical industry. Orna will focus on how color has influenced our social history in a fundamental way and pervades every aspect of our lives – what we wear, how we medicate ourselves, what we eat and how we entertain ourselves.
Orna has lectured and published widely in the areas of color chemistry and archaeological chemistry. She is editor-at-large of “Chemical Heritage” magazine, former director of educational services at the Chemical Heritage Foundation and former publications coordinator of the “Journal of Chemical Education.”
This lecture is sponsored by the Gehrenbeck Fund and by the Physical Sciences Department. For more information contact, James Magyar, Physical Sciences Department, (401) 456-9697, jmagyar@ric.edu.
Orna is a tour speaker on the roster of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and has been an invited lecturer in every part of the United States and many countries in Europe and the South Pacific. Her many publications have appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education, Color Research and Application, Studies in Conservation, Analytical Chemistry, the Microchemical Journal, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, American Chemical Society monographs and various other journals. She has also authored three books, numerous book chapters and encyclopedia articles, and co-edited eight other books.
Her ACS activities include serving on elected council committees and on other committees that include the Society Committee on Education, Divisional Activities Committee and the Committee on Meetings and Expositions. She is active in several divisions of the American Chemical Society, having served as chair, program chair and treasurer of the Division of the History of Chemistry. She is currently serving as ACS councilor and a member of the ACS Council Policy Committee.
Among her awards are the Chemical Manufacturing Association’s Catalyst Award for excellence in college chemistry teaching, the 1989 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education New York State Professor of the Year, National Gold Medalist Award, the 1989 Merck Innovation Award, the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry, ACS 1999 George C. Pimentel Award in Chemical Education, the 2008 Henry Hill Award and the ACS 2009 Award for Volunteer Service.
She has also been a frequent contributor to the Sunday New York Times, SciQuest, Clinical Chemistry News, American Laboratory, Today’s Chemist and other publications.
Established in 1854, Rhode Island College serves approximately 9,000 graduate and undergraduate students through its five schools: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, the School of Social Work, the School of Management and the School of Nursing. For more information, visit www.ric.edu.
