VCNY offers a variety of events, from lowkey Schmoozes, to career discussions with Vassar alum leaders in various industries, to stage performances featuring Vassar alums, to museum visits curated by Vassar alums and more. Make sure you’re on our list to be the first to know!
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Upcoming
Author Talk: Professor Robert Brigham discusses This Is A True War Story
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Upper West Side, Upper West Side, NY
⚠️ Sold out, waitlist available
Please join us for a very special and personal Vassar Club of New York Author Talk in-person on Tuesday, July 21, at 6:30 p.m. ET, when we will welcome Professor Robert Brigham and discuss his latest book, This Is A True War Story. Lynn Janovsky ’86 will lead the discussion.
The event will be graciously hosted at the Upper West Side apartment of Jon Friedland ’90.
This Is A True War Story is a personal account by a war historian and adoptee who discovers his biological father was a famous Marine combat photographer in Vietnam. Bring a copy of your book for a post-discussion book signing (ordering links and discount code below)!
Robert K. Brigham has had a substantial career as a historian of the Vietnam War, with a hand in nine books, a documentary, public history projects, and more. While many a historian has felt compelled at some point to write about a subject close to them personally, Brigham did not think he was doing that. But, at age fifty-eight, Brigham, who had long known he was adopted, discovered that he’d improbably and unknowingly been studying and talking about his biological father for decades. That man, Bruce Atwell, was a Marine Corps photographer who took some of that war’s most indelible and widely reproduced pictures. Brigham had used those images over and over again in decades’ worth of classes and public lectures, never knowing the truth. (Author Photo Credit: Monica Church 2023)
Register for the author talk by July 14.
This Is A True War Story is available at your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org, and through the UChicago Press (enter code UCPNEW at checkout for 30% off).
Robert. K. Brigham, Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations, joined the Vassar faculty in 1994. He is a specialist on the history of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the Vietnam War. Brigham is author or co-author of ten books, among them Reckless: Henry Kissinger and the Tragedy of Vietnam (PublicAffairs, 2018); Is Iraq Another Vietnam? (PublicAffairs, 2006); and Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy (PublicAffairs, 1999), written with former secretary of defense, Robert S. McNamara and James G. Blight. Brigham’s latest book is This is a True War Story: My Improbable History with Vietnam (The University of Chicago Press, 2026).
Past
Alum-Led Tour of the American Folk Art Museum
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American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, New York, NY
Join the Vassar Club of New York and American Folk Art Museum Senior Educator Nicole Haroutunian ’03 at 10:30 a.m. ET for a private, before-hours tour of Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists, an exhibition that addresses “how formally untrained artists have identified, imagined, and depicted themselves as ‘capital-A Artists.’” Through conversation and close observation, participants will delve into a diverse array of work by self-taught artists.
Run Time: 1 hour
Ticketing: $10
Space is limited. Reserve Early.
An informal pay-your-own-way lunch may follow the tour based on interest.
Since 1961, the American Folk Art Museum has celebrated the creativity of individuals whose singular talents have been refined largely through personal experience rather than formal artistic training. Their collection includes more than seven thousand works of art from four centuries and nearly every continent—from compelling portraits and dazzling quilts to powerful works by living artists in a variety of mediums.
Nicole Haroutunian ’03 is Senior Educator at the American Folk Art Museum, where she has worked on contractual basis since 2008. She is also a member of the education department at the Noguchi Museum and previously has taught for institutions such as MoMA, The Morgan Library and Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York. She is the author of the novel-in-stories Choose This Now (Noemi Press, 2024) and lives with her family in Woodside, Queens.
The museum is accessible to those with mobility aids; we have wheelchairs available in the gallery on a first-come, first-serve basis. For visitors who are blind or have low vision, verbal description is available upon request. ASL interpretation is available upon request but does take extra lead time to arrange.
New date! Entertainment + Media Industry Networking Meetup
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TALEA Beer Penn District
Are you working in the creative or business side of the entertainment industry? Join your Vassar community of media makers for an event where creatives and industry professionals can come together.
This networking meetup is for all artists, directors, producers, executives, and those still finding their footing. Meet some fellow alums to collaborate, build relationships, and talk about your latest projects.
This event will include some structured mixing and matching to create meaningful relationships across the industry.
Everyone is welcome!
A variety of quick bites and beverages will be available for purchase.
Talea NYC Penn District is ADA accessible
Entertainment + Media Industry Networking Meetup
–
TALEA Beer Penn District
Are you working in the creative or business side of the entertainment industry? Join your Vassar community of media makers for an event where creatives and industry professionals can come together.
This networking meetup is for all artists, directors, producers, executives, and those still finding their footing. Meet some fellow alums to collaborate, build relationships, and talk about your latest projects.
This event will include some structured mixing and matching to create meaningful relationships across the industry.
Everyone is welcome!
A variety of quick bites and beverages will be available for purchase.
Talea NYC Penn District is ADA accessible
Author Talk: Mary Dockray-Miller ’86 discusses Freyja’s Garden
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25 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010-3685, United States
Join the Vassar Club of New York at our next Author Talk in-person and online at 6:30 p.m. ET, when we will welcome Mary Dockray-Miller ’86 and discuss her latest book, Freyja’s Garden. Lynn Janovsky ’86 will lead the discussion.
This will be a hybrid event, meeting in-person (wheelchair accessible) and virtually.
– The in-person event will take place at the Sony Office near Madison Square Park.
– In-person directions and Microsoft Teams information will be provided to those who register.
Freyja’s Garden tells the story of the Danish princess Hildeburh, who must marry Finn, King of Frisia, and produce an heir to seal the peace between their warring tribes—but she has already pledged herself to the cult of Freyja, the matriarchal goddess who shares wisdom and magic only with her solitary priestesses. An enigmatic and secondary figure in the Old English poem Beowulf, Hildeburh steps forward here as the heroine of her own story as she tries to wield queenly power in Frisia and appease the goddess whose service her father forced her to abandon.
Medievalist and professor Mary Dockray-Miller brings her expertise in women’s history to her first foray into fiction, re-shaping a minor section of Beowulf into a novel focused on an early medieval woman torn between her duty to her family and her own desires.
Mary Dockray-Miller, Ph.D.’86 majored in English at Vassar. She taught English, literature, and medieval studies in the humanities program at Lesley University for 25 years. She is the author of The Books and the Life of Judith of Flanders (Ashgate, 2015), Public Medievalists, Racism, and Suffrage in the American Women’s College (Palgrave, 2017), and a variety of other books and essays focused on medieval studies and women’s history. She blogs as The Massachusetts Medievalist (massmedievalist.substack.com), volunteers at the Cambridge Public Library, and looks for birds while hiking all over New England.
Freyja’s Garden is available at your local bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org, and as an e-book through Signum Press.
104th Annual Meeting with David Orkin ’13
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The Lotos Club, 5 E 66th St, New York, NY 10065
The Vassar Club of New York cordially invites you to the
104th Annual Meeting
Community, Connection & Carrying It Forward,
A Conversation with David Orkin ’13
Gather with VCNY for a conversation about what inspires service and how Vassar graduates are building meaningful communities. We’ll share experiences, exchange ideas, and explore new ways to strengthen our collective impact.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
6:30–8:30 p.m.
Keynote at 7:30 p.m.
The Lotos Club
5 E 66th Street
NY, NY 10065
Tickets:
$34 per person
Includes open bar and passed hors d’oeuvres
About David Orkin ’13
David Orkin is a workers’ rights attorney who has been organizing in the immigrant rights movement for over a decade. He’s dedicated his life to fighting for immigrants and workers, and is running to be an Assemblyman in District 38 in Queens.
Vote for VCNY Board Members
As a member of the VCNY community, please cast your ballot for the Vassar Club of New York, Inc. Board of Directors. Whether you are attending the Annual Meeting or not, please take the time to complete the ballot.
https://forms.gle/1fFmFu9dR3iZhD6dA
Please submit your vote no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
Mexodus performance and talkback
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The Daryl Roth Theatres, 101 E 15th St, New York, NY
Join the Vassar Club of New York at 7:30 p.m. ET at a performance of Mexodus, a live looped new musical about the underground railroad that headed south to Mexico co-produced by Deadria Harrington ’10 and her organization, The Movement Theatre Company. The performance will be followed by an exclusive 20-minute Q&A and reception with a complimentary beverage with creators and performers Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson.
Run Time: 90 min (no intermission)
Ticketing: $104.50
Venue: The Daryl Roth Theatre
Discounted Seats are limited.
To Attend: Please purchase tickets directly through Telecharge through the link below.
https://www.telecharge.com/Mexodus-tickets?AID=BWY001483400&MC=VASSARMEX&utm_source=show_site&utm_campaign=MexodusSS&utm_medium=web&utm_id=BWY001483400
Use code VASSARMEX to access our exclusive block of tickets.
Mexodus (https://mexodusmusical.com/), You know the story of the Underground Railroad that ran North—but this show takes you on the path that ran South by crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico. “An electrifying theatrical experience,” (The New York Times) created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson, this groundbreaking musical follows a freedom seeker and an unlikely ally as they forge a remarkable bond that transcends borders.
Deadria Harrington ’10, a person with short blond hair, bright pink lipstick, and pearl drop earrings, wearing a black top.Deadria Harrington ’10 (Producing Artistic Leader, The Movement Theatre Company) is a NYC based creative producer. With The Movement, she has developed/produced numerous new works by artists of color, most recently The Cotillion written and directed by Colette Robert, What To Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris (dir. Whitney White), and And She Would Stand Like This by Harrison David Rivers (dir. David Mendizábal). Select producing credits include: Mexodus (P3 Productions), The Architecture of Becoming (WP Theater); At Buffalo (NYMF, TED 2019 Conference); and AFROFEMONONOMY // WORK THE ROOTS with Eisa Davis (PSNY/New Georges). Harrington was a 2012–2014 Time Warner Foundation Fellow in the Producers Lab at WP Theater, Next Generation Leader of Color at the Latinx Theatre Commons National Convening, and alumnus of New York Foundation for the Arts Executive Leaders of Color Incubator. She is the Director of Artistic Operations at New Georges, Board Chair of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/NY and a Vassar College graduate.
The Daryl Roth Theatre is a wheelchair accessible venue. If you have accessibility needs, please email Pua Tanielu at [email protected]tions. For questions regarding tickets or the post-show Q&A and reception, email Deadria Harrington at [email protected].
Spend a Day at Vassar
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Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY
Join the Vassar Club of New York as we venture out of New York City back to our roots for a fun-filled day at Vassar!
We have an amazing line up of activities for you. You’re welcome to come for the whole day or drop in for the portions that fit your schedule and interests!
Space is limited; register soon and no later than April 1.
Here’s the schedule for the day:
8:56 a.m. Metro-North train leaves Grand Central Station. If you choose to take the train with us please try to arrive at least 15 minutes early to buy your ticket and meet up with the group at the large clock in the middle of the Main Concourse.
10:58 a.m. Arrive at Poughkeepsie Train Station. We will travel together to campus through ride share/alum car pool.
~ 11:15 a.m. Arrive on campus for light morning refreshments in Rockefeller Hall
11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Arboretum Tour with Meg Ronsheim and Myra Hughey, Vassar biology professors and Arboretum Committee members
After a brief talk, we will enjoy a 45-minute walking tour. Mobility requirements may include stairs and unpaved/uneven surfaces.
1:00 to 3:15 p.m. Lunch and time on your own
Join us for “pay-your-own-way” throwback lunch at ACDC/Gordon Commons or venture on your own.
Around 2:00 p.m. visit the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center for a student-led docent tour.
3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Capotorto and Mulas Family Lecture featuring John Cameron Mitchell, an American writer, director, actor, and performer—most famous for creating, starring in, and directing the cult hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical and film), exploring gender and identity. He is back on Broadway this spring for a limited engagement in the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!
**This lecture is open to the entire Vassar community (campus location TBA)**
5:00 p.m. Mocktails and Cocktails at The Salt Line at Vassar (for those who want to stick around)
Transportation time home will be at your own discretion. View Metro North schedules here.
The College Store will be open from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. It will be open specifically for us, so please stop by and buy your latest Vassar Swag!!!
If you want to stay the night, consider making a reservation at Alumnae House or The Heartwood at Vassar.