Thomas (T.C.) Morrison '63 - All of 2023 and 2024
Thomas Morrison, writing under the name T.C. Morrison, graduated from Otterbein University in 1966. He went on to New York University Law School where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar. After four years of active duty as a legal officer in the United States Air Force, Morrison joined the New York City law firm Rogers & Wells where he became a partner in 1975. In 1977 he moved to Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, where he spent the next 34 years trying cases and arguing appeals throughout the country. Morrison helped Patterson Belknap pioneer the field of false advertising, whereby national advertisers can sue their competitors for advertising that is false or unsubstantiated. Many of his cases in this field, as well as the field of trademark and trade dress infringement, have become landmarks. Shortly before he retired, Morrison began writing a comic novel about modern day litigators and the cases they bring. Believing that most attorneys take themselves and their cases much too seriously, Morrison set out to write a legal farce.
Bryan Thao Worra, Year Attended '97 - All of 2024
Bryan Thao Worra is the most-widely published Lao American poet since the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. He attended Otterbein University between 1991-1997. He holds the distinction of being the very first Lao American to receive an NEA Fellowship in Literature. He holds 20 literary, academic and professional awards, and since 2018 has served as the Lao Minnesotan Poet Laureate. He is the Creative Works editor of the Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement, and between 2016-2022 served as the president of the international Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. In 2012, he was selected as the Lao delegate to serve as a Cultural Olympian during the London Summer Games. He has presented at the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the Singapore Writers Festival, the Minnesota History Center, San Diego Comic Con, Poets House, and over 70 festivals and institutions. His writing is cited in 9 international textbooks including the 2012 edition of the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and the Historical Dictionary of Asian American Literature and Theater in addition to extensive academic papers. The author of 9 collections, his work appears globally in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Pakistan, and the United States. American Laodyssey is his newest collection, collecting over 30 years of his professional creative writing that began at Otterbein with publications such as Quiz and Quill.
Items Listed in chronological order by featured author.