Patricia
Gorman, an assistant professor of the Commonwealth Honors College at the
University of Massachusetts, has always loved the Irish culture. Over the years
she has written essays and dissertations about their literature and theatre.
She has also traveled to Ireland many times.
“I’ve
always had an infinity for Ireland,” she said. This passion springs from her
family ancestry and being part of the third or fourth generation of Irish
Americans, depending on which side of the family. She doesn't know where her
family is from in Ireland, but she says that that adds to the "intrigue
and mystery" that drew her.
This
semester Gorman is teaching the course “Irish Writers and Cultural Context,”
which is a class that she created. In the class, Gorman teaches her students
about the Irish culture they have likely heard so much about though the medium
of plays, short stories, novels, and movies. Plays such as “The Bog of Cats” by
Marina Carr, “Eclipsed” by Patricia Burke Brogan, and “Dancing at Lughnasa” by
Brian Friel, juxtaposed with the movie “The Magdalene Sisters” and poems by
people who partook in political activism during the fight for independence from
the English. This knowledge is what she has obtained from years of study and
multiple trips to Ireland.
Her
first trip was in her twenties. While she was there she went to the Yeat’s
Summer Program in Sligo, where she did graduate work on Yeats, though she
eventually changed her topic to James Joyce, and specifically on "Ulysses." Another one of
Gorman's trips to Ireland was academic, earning her Ph.D. in Anglo-Irish
Literature and Drama from the University College Dublin in 2008. Another trip
ended up being an extended stay, living there during 1983 to1985 with her
husband, Douglas DaRif, and two children, Meghan and Devin. Though the
Irish culture is in a state of “dramatic influx”, she still found the culture
widely accepting.
One of the
aspects of the culture that was difficult to adjust to was the pub culture, she
said. In Ireland, people go to the pub in order to hang out with people, and
have a variety of drinks ranging from alcohol to tea. People also commonly
brought their children to the pub because it was a place of community, which
was a culture shock for Gorman because of the American culture of not bring
children into institutions such as bars.
However,
Gorman had more trouble adjusting to life in the States when she came back because
the pace of life in America is much faster than Ireland. Gorman said that the
cities, and even the towns, in the United States, were more fast-paced than
life in Ireland.
Her other
degrees include a Master's in English, Liberal Arts and Education. This is
because she continuously wants to learn and enjoys being on both sides of the
desk, she said. “I just want to keep learning in a broad way,” she said in
reference to her multiple degrees. When she retires, she wants to learn Thai in
order to prove to herself that she can.
She
remembers how her father would come home and tell stories from the classroom.
“He would then lean over and grab my arm and say ‘And Pattie, they pay me for
this.’” Her father’s love for his job inspired her to want to have a job that
she loved. This job is teaching. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Gorman
said, citing her father as her inspiration.
Before
Umass, she taught graduate and undergraduate classes at Clark University and
Clark's affiliate, Worcester Art Museum. At Clark she created classes that were
based in feminism and spirituality in literature. She liked the unique
experience of being able to work and draw from the museum, incorporating the
art from the museum with the literature of the class. While there she not only
taught, but designed courses as well.
She came to UMass because she
wanted to live in a progressive rural area, and the Amherst area gave her that.
At Umass she has taught the Dean's book course, "Metaphor and
Creativity", "Gender Politics in Representation", an Honors
seminar and, of course, the Irish Writers class.
Among her
other achievements is receiving the Commonwealth Honors College Distinguished
Teaching Award for her work in the class "Ideas That Change the World, an
Honor's seminar required for Honors students at Umass. She, and the other
winner in 2012, were the first winners of the award. Not only that but she was
nominated and selected by students to receive the award. The honors seminar
that she teaches is a ground level that most honors kids take. In her version
of the class, she starts off with Plato, especially his essay known as “The
Cave”, which is a way to teach to her students about questioning everything
around themselves.
She
encourages her students to explore what they find interesting. Lena Golick, a sophomore
biology major at UMass, says "In Irish Writers she has been allowing us to
explore whatever facets of Irish literature most interests us. By doing this,
we all learn more because we are actually invested in what we are
learning." Instead of creating prompts, she wants students to find out
about what interests them, whether that be the music, history, mythology or
anything that sparks interest. She lets them pick their own subjects of essays
and discussions, and allows them to have a say in the curriculum, something
that is unique in the sphere of education. Albert Williams, a UMass junior
computer science and math double major, said "Professor Gorman took the
indifferent Math student in me and instilled him with compassion."
She
is currently editing a book on Joyce's "Ulysses." Part of her work with the book is a
400 page dissertation that examines the gender politics in Joyce’s work. By
focusing on gender politics, she is able to look at the intersection between
paganism and Christianity, two very different religions.
by Lauren McArdle
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