Dr. Catherine Rokicky Presents at Tri-C West 

PARMA – Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) Western Campus is pleased to feature a presentation by Tri-C Associate Professor Dr. Catherine Rokicky, author of Creating a Perfect World: Religious and Secular Utopias in Nineteenth-Century Ohio on Monday, November 23, at noon in the North Galleria of the Western Campus located at 11000 Pleasant Valley Road in Parma.

Dr. Rokicky, who teaches history at Tri-C, will talk about the early development of utopian societies here in Ohio.  The state’s location on the frontier of the nation was a magnet for several utopian movements, both religious and secular, including the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming, or Shakers; the Society of Separatists at Zoar; the Mormons, who stopped in the state for several years on their way west; and several societies based on the philosophies of European social reformers Robert Owen and Charles Fourier.

Profiling these communities and exploring their ideals, Dr. Rokicky will examine the roles men and women play, their approaches to communal living and community property, economic activities, relations with surrounding communities and the state, and the various reasons for their success or failure.

Dr.  Rokicky teaches United States and Latin American history at Tri-C. She earned her Ph.D. from Kent State University and is the author of two books: James Monroe: Oberlin's Christian Statesman and Reformer, 1821-1898 (Kent State University Press, 2002) and Creating a Perfect World: Religious and Secular Utopias in Nineteenth-Century Ohio (Ohio University Press, 2002) which is part of the Ohio Bicentennial Series. She also earned the award for best dissertation in the state of Ohio from the Ohio Academy of History.

This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Tri-C Western Campus Social Sciences Division.  Parking is available in designated visitor lots on each Tri-C campus for $1 for a two-hour time block, or a hangtag permit can be purchased for 75 cents.

For more information, contact Susanna de Sorgo at 216-987-5505 or 216-987-5508.