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The Sarah Lawrence community mourns the loss of beloved longtime faculty member Rose Anne Thom.
Rose Anne had a long and exceptional career in the Dance program at Sarah Lawrence College. She started here as a guest faculty member in 1975, and became a regular member of the teaching faculty in 1977. She served as Dance Program Chair and also as Associate Dean of Studies. In addition, Rose Anne was an integral part of faculty governance, serving on every standing committee of the College (some more than once!) and as the Faculty Trustee. Upon her retirement in 2015, Rose Anne was honored by the Board of Trustees with the title Faculty Emerita.
Rose Anne was a consummate teacher and don, demanding rigorous work from her students and equally rigorous dedication from her colleagues. She was legendary for keeping up systematic meetings with her donnees throughout their four years at the College, finding time for probing, extensive conversations around curricular and career planning on a regular basis. Rose Anne frequently taught foundational component classes, especially Dance History and Labanotation, but her talents were not limited to the Dance program. She saw dance as an integral part of the liberal arts and regularly offered courses in the humanities that included Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes; Balanchine, Graham, and 20th Century Modern Dance; Social Consciousness in Modern Dance; and Aspects of World Dance. She taught these courses at the Center for Continuing Education as well, and many of Rose Anne’s CCE students went on to matriculate in the undergraduate college.
Rose Anne’s students and colleagues knew her as feisty, passionate, straightforward, and always full of energy. Just a few years ago I attended a wedding where Rose Anne was also a guest. She was sweeping and whirling around the dance floor with great aplomb and I remarked in passing to my husband that she was close to retirement. His astonished response, “Get out!!”, was testimony to her incredible verve and dynamism. Her indefatigability, her sensitivity and care, and her extraordinary dedication to the College greatly influenced all of us.
Kanwal Singh
Provost and Dean of Faculty
Campus memorial service information:
Saturday, October 27, 2018
3-5 p.m.
Reisinger AuditoriumA reception will follow under the tent on Westlands lawn
Guests are invited to share memories, and to bring their dancing shoes to participate in scored improvisations
Please RSVP by October 22 to collegeevents@sarahlawrence.edu or 914.395.2412