Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program
Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program
The Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program at Molloy University:
- Involves students, faculty, administrators, and staff, reading and discussing a book chosen by a college committee because of its important theme and its relevance to contemporary life.
- Revolves around a book that is required reading for FST 1000, The College Experience, a course all First-Year students take during their first semester.
- Serves as the subject of the University’s Opening Convocation each fall. The book’s author comes to campus to talk about the book.
- Is the catalyst for Inspired Works, a contest sponsored by the Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program Committee to reward creativity in student writers, artists, or musicians.
Current Book and Author AY 24.25
The Plant Hunter by Dr. Cassandra Quave
Convocation Wednesday, October 9, 2024
About the Author
Cassandra Quave, Ph.D., is author of a science memoir The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines. Dr. Quave is Curator of the Herbarium and Associate Professor of Dermatology and Human Health at Emory University, where she leads anti-infective drug discovery research initiatives and teaches courses on medicinal plants, microbiology, and pharmacology. As a medical ethnobotanist, her work focuses on the documentation and pharmacological evaluation of plants used in traditional medicine. Dr. Quave’s research is supported by the NIH, industry contracts, and philanthropy. She is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a past President of the Society for Economic Botany, a recipient of the Emory Williams Teaching Award, and Charles Heiser, Jr. Mentor Award. She is the host of Foodie Pharmacology, a podcast dedicated to exploring the links between food and medicine. Dr. Quave has authored more than 100 scientific publications, two edited books, twenty book chapters, and seven patents. Her research has been the subject of feature profiles in the New York Times Magazine, BBC Science Focus, National Geographic Magazine, Brigitte Magazin, NPR, PBS, and the National Geographic Channel.
About The Plant Hunter:
The uplifting, adventure-filled memoir of one groundbreaking scientist’s quest to develop new way to fight illness and disease through the healing powers of plants.
Traveling by canoe, ATV, mule, airboat, and on foot, Dr. Cassandra Quave has conducted field research everywhere from the flooded forests of the remote Amazon to the isolated mountaintops in Albania and Kosovo—all in search of natural compounds, long-known to traditional healers, that could help save us all from the looming crisis of untreatable superbugs. Dr. Quave is a leading medical ethnobotanist—someone who identifies and studies plants that may be able to treat antimicrobial resistance and other threatening illnesses—helping to provide clues for the next generation of advanced medicines. And as a person born with multiple congenital defects of her skeletal system, she’s done it all with just one leg. In The Plant Hunter, Dr. Quave weaves together science, botany, and memoir to tell us the extraordinary story of her own journey.
Past Guest Authors and Common Read Books
Since 2009, The Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program has brought the works of today's contemporary authors to our Molloy Community.
Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program Committee
Alice Byrnes, O.P., D.A., Chairperson of the Common Reading Committee, Professor of English
Elizabeth Cotter, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, Professor, School of Nursing and Health Sciences
Madeline Craig, Ed.D, Associate Professor, School of Education and Human Services
Noelle Cutter, PhD., Associate Professor of Biology, and Director of First Year Experience
Sarah Evans, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Program Director of New Media
Mary Gallagher, B.A., Administrative Assistant, Psychology and Interdisciplinary Departments
Donna Iucolano, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Business
Janice Kelly, Ed.D., Professor, Program Director of Professional Communications, Chairperson of Interdisciplinary Studies
Laurie Hallick, M.S.Ed., Instructional Designer, Blended & Online Learning
Rebecca Martinez, B.S., M.B.A, Assistant Director, Career Center
David Nochimson, M.L.S. Access Service Librarian, James E. Tobin Library
Trisha O’Neill, B.F.A., Administrative Assistant, English, Communications, and Art
Cate Donato, Student Member
Emily McKenna, Student Member
Molloy’s Common Reading Program 2009- 2024
2009 Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father’s Story of Love and Madness by Michael Greenberg
2010 Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin
2011 Outcasts United by Warren St.John
2012 Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
2013 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
2014 One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni
2015 March Book One, March Book Two by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin,
and Nate Powell
2016 Post Mortal by Drew Magary
2017 The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
2018 Tough as They Come by Travis Mills
2019 We Are All Called to Rise by Laura McBride
2020 What the Eyes Don’t See by Mona Hanna-Attisha
2021 Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
2022 One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
2023 The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
2024 The Plant Hunter by Dr. Cassandra Quave
Inspired Works 2023-24 Contest Winners
Zoie Napolitano, First Place Winner for poem titled “The Mirror”
Ezekiel Babarinde, Second Place Winner for musical score and recording titled Lost Love
Alisa Biju, Third Place Winner for short story titled “If Only I Had Known”
Award Ceremony April 9, 2024