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Mad about monster movies: Mark Glassy
“Mark Glassy and Frankenstein: Men of Many Parts” features UCR alumnus’ passion for science and science fiction. His SF collectibles will be on exhibit through Dec. 14.
Over the decades Mark Glassy has collected more than 100,000 science fiction items.
Visitors to his home office are greeted by B-9, the Robot from “Lost in Space.” Glassy, a 1978 UC Riverside graduate-turned-cancer research scientist spends most of his evenings sculpting figurines that capture scenes from his favorite science fiction films.
His creations and a small selection of his collectibles became a special exhibit titled “Mark Glassy and Frankenstein: Men of Many Parts” at UCR’s Tomás Rivera Library’s Special Collections and University Archives in honor of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The 12-week exhibit on the fourth floor of the Rivera Library will feature guided tours with Glassy. In October and November he’ll offer six guided tours, including one on Halloween. Visitors who arrive at the Special Collections and University Archives will hear how his fandom for science fiction grew over the decades and will also learn how his sculptures evolve from an idea to an actual piece of art. Included in the exhibit are sculptures, comic books, posters, and other Science Fiction and Horror collectables that reflect Glassy’s life-long passion.
Exhibit events also include UCR Professor of English and Director of Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program Sheryl Vint, who will lead a conversation with German author and journalist Dietmar Dath, on Oct. 15. Dath is currently working on a Frankenstein screenplay.
All events are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are recommended, as space is limited:
- Guided Tours with Mark Glassy: frankenstein-tours.eventbrite.com
- Dietmar Dath with Sheryl Vint: dath-vint.eventbrite.com
Glassy’s connection to UCR goes back to 1975 when he started his doctoral research in biochemistry. He said UCR granted him both support and independence while he spent endless hours in the lab, designing his own experiments and researching B-lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that supports the immune system by fighting off germs and diseases. For the past 37 years he’s been working at UC San Diego, most recently taking a role as a visiting scholar at UCSD’s Moores Cancer Center. Throughout those decades, Glassy has developed pritumumab, a pharmaceutical drug designed to cure brain cancer. His drug has been submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for review, he said.
UCR’s education helped steer his career. When Glassy heard UCR Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox speak during a San Diego reception two years ago, he was impressed with UCR’s growth, diversity, its mission to support first-generation students, while simultaneously supporting faculty who conduct world-class research.
Glassy’s two passions: finding a cure for brain cancer and delving into Science Fiction, lead him to his home office every day. There, he either writes articles for the scientific journal he founded, Human Antibodies, watches films that inspire his art, or sits in an old elementary school desk, surrounded by wire and stainless steel molding tools, small paint bottles, and jars of Apoxie Sculpt clay.
“In terms of the research environment, I cannot separate the two, science and science fiction. It’s impossible for me. When I’m at the lab, I’m still making analogies and metaphors,” said Glassy, who has authored three books.
Shelves line the office walls, holding thousands of little mementos of decades of Science Fiction history: triceratops, R2-D2, Stormtrooper masks, Pez candy dispensers, a Superman comic book collection from the 1950s, an 1831 edition of Frankenstein the novel, and a human-sized Creature from the “Black Lagoon.”
“It’s me. Look around, it’s me,” said Glassy, 66. “No matter how hectic, how stressful my day has been, when I walk into my room, it all washes away. I can’t help but smile.”
Featuring Glassy’s works and collection brings to the exhibit “the things that make him a ‘Mad Doctor,’” said JJ Jacobson, UCR’s Jay Kay and Doris Klein Science Fiction librarian. Jacobson is one of two exhibit curators. Glassy’s anti-cancer drug addresses brain tumors, the “the way one of his beloved comic book heroes cleans out a secret lab full of supervillains,” Jacobson said.
“Mark has the kind of vision, passion, energy, and concentration that make it really fortunate for the rest of us is that he’s not the kind of Mad Doctor who wants to rule the world. Instead, he’s mad for science fiction, comic books, and horror movies; absolutely mad about the range and power of the human imagination, and, of course, really mad at cancer,” Jacobson said. “There are many collectors out there who love Frankenstein, there are many model makers who do wonderful work, but what sets the material in ‘Men of Many Parts’ apart is all that combined with Mark’s incredible eye for detail, the scientific understanding with which he views the popular culture of monsters, and his extraordinarily wacky sense of humor.”
- Written by Sandra Baltazar Martinez
Fred Patten Papers
Located in: Special Collections & University Archives
This collection contains correspondence, email, fliers, articles, stories, business cards, and other material on Fred Patten, who is a historian of science fiction, manga, anime, and furry fandom. Mostly contains correspondence and exchanges which he had with others.
Supporting Student Success Through CHASS F1RST
The UCR Library plays an important role in supporting CHASS F1RST, a student success program in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS) that helps first-year freshman and transfer students adjust to college life.
On the library’s end, this collaboration is led by Student Success and Engagement Librarian Carrie Cruce and Social Sciences Teaching Librarian Michael Yonezawa.
The UCR Library contributes to the program in two key ways: by embedding information literacy modules into CHASS F1RST courses—CHFY 007 for freshmen and CHFY 010 for transfer students—and by providing research skills training to the program’s peer mentors through the library’s WRI (Workshop-Related Instruction) Research Ready program.
Rather than having students come to the library, the team meets them where they are. “Our modules are integrated into their Canvas courses, and our training for peer mentors happens in their space,” Carrie said.
First-year students often face challenges navigating implicit or unspoken academic expectations, a concept sometimes referred to as the “hidden curriculum.” According to Carrie, this includes understanding self-advocacy, seeking help, and utilizing campus resources.
“Our collaboration with CHASS F1RST is one of the avenues we have to support students in building academic support networks, cultivating help-seeking skills, and understanding the role and resources of campus support departments like the library,” Carrie explains.
Michael noted that first-year students—and in some cases, new transfer students—are often not aware of the vast resources and services a modern academic library provides. “The challenge for these students is to learn how to search, evaluate, and effectively use different types of information in their coursework and projects, particularly but not exclusively scholarly and academic information,” he said. “Ideally, students begin their academic journeys with an introduction to important foundational library concepts.”
Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Students have reported feeling more confident in their ability to navigate the library’s resources and conduct research effectively.
Carrie emphasized that fostering positive relationships with students has been key. “I’ve built connections with several students who now recognize me at other campus events,” she said. Librarian recognition and personal relationships support a positive impression of the library which contributes to further engagement.”
By meeting students early in their academic journey, the UCR Library is setting the stage for these students’ continued academic growth and engagement throughout their time at UCR.
Jerry Pournelle Papers
Located in: Special Collections & University Archives
This collection contains manuscripts, galley proofs, and other material regarding Jerry Pournelle, an American Science Fiction author and journalist.
Ben Bova Papers
Located in: Special Collections & University Archives
Benjamin William "Ben" Bova (born November 8, 1932) is an American writer of both science fiction and science fact, primarily on the topics of lasers and fluid dynamics. He has authored more than 120 works and has won the Hugo Award for his science fiction writings. In the field of science fiction, he is perhaps best know for his Grand Tour series of books that are each focused on the exploration of the different bodies of the solar system.
UCR alumnus collaborates with Library on Frankenstein exhibit
When UCR alumnus Dr. Mark Glassy heard that the library was putting together an exhibit to honor the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, he couldn’t wait to get involved.
Our Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction, JJ Jacobson and her co-curator, graduate student Miranda Butler had been curating the scholarly exhibit for about six months when Glassy reached out to express interest in collaboration.
“Miranda is a grad student in the English department and the SFCS (Speculative Fiction and Cultures of Science) program, and she knows amazing amounts of things about gothic literature,” Jacobson explained. But Glassy brings something very different to the table: a life-long love affair with monster memorabilia and science fiction.
Glassy invited Butler, Jacobson, and Cherry Williams, UCR Library’s Director of Distinctive Collections, to view his extensive personal collection of models, comic books, and other memorabilia. Jacobson nicknamed Glassy’s home “the monster model mansion,” a nod to the title of his former website, The Doctor’s Model Mansion.
Glassy himself sculpted many of the pieces in his collection, and therefore they are one-of-a-kind. “Mark is willing to lend us some of his models for the exhibit and/or an accompanying display,” Jacobson stated enthusiastically.
“It’s such an honor to be with somebody while they show you what their passion is, what they’ve collected over the course of a lifetime,” Williams commented.
Their collaboration has been a meeting of the minds for several people who truly love the genre. “He’s really, really smart about Frankenstein as an enduring icon,” Jacobson said of Glassy. Their conversations sometimes spark new tangents, she added, which inspire an entirely new vein of research for exhibit content.
“He loves that we want to talk to him seriously about science fiction. All of us are taking our geekdom and our love of science fiction and using it to do something amazing in the world,” Jacobson added. “Mark is a big-time cancer hero, and Miranda is an incredibly insightful and promising graduate student. We know here at UCR that a love of science fiction can coexist with a serious intellectual life. Other parts of the world can be a little slower to catch up.”
The “200 Years of Frankenstein” exhibit is scheduled to begin in September 2018, in Special Collections on the fourth floor of Rivera Library.
Cancer researcher by day, and science fiction enthusiast by night. See more of UCR alumnus Dr. Glassy’s collection here: www.glassyscifiarchive.com
Visiting Scholar in the Eaton Collection
The UCR Library has been host to Pablo Gomez, visiting scholar from the University of Zaragoza, Spain, throughout Spring Quarter, 2016. Gomez found his way to the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction & Fantasy after an international search for a library that could provide access to the largest possible number of works in these genres. He has found titles in the Eaton Collection that are invaluable for his work and very difficult to find in Europe.
Gomez is researching transnationalism in science fiction cinema for his Ph.D., and his research has identified trends in science fiction that reveal the development of a “transnational social conscience” that has come about largely through globalization. “Science fiction has a social imagination that can deal with our real world by suspending reality or pushing the boundaries of reality.”
Gomez will be returning to Spain in June.