Robert Bradley Receives Distinguished Scholar Award

Robert Bradley was honored with the Department's Distinguished Scholar Award at the College of Arts and Sciences Reception on Friday afternoon. On Friday morning, he had an opportunity to visit Beth Bradburn's British Literature I class and witnessed a discussion of Chaucer's "Miller's Tale." In the picture, he is standing in front of Sprau Tower, an appropriate location considering that he was the Department's second recipient, in 1951 (!), of the prestigious George Sprau Student Award.

McDowell featured on Poetry Daily

Gary McDowell's poem "Ninth Morning in a Row with Binoculars," originally published in the New England Review, was reprinted on the Poetry Daily website.

http://www.poems.com/poem.php?date=14155

http://www.poems.com/feature.php?date=14155

Gary's poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Ninth Letter, The Pinch, RHINO, Salt Hill, and The Southeast Review. He is also co-editor, with F. Daniel Rzicznek, of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to the Prose Poem: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice, an anthology of essays and prose poems (Rose Metal Press, 2010). Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Poetry here at Western Michigan University and currently serves as the poetry editor of Third Coast.

Hiromi Ito to Speak

Well known Japanese writer Hiromi Ito will be presenting "Living Between Languages: A Conversation and Bilingual Reading," today, Friday, Oct. 3, 4p.m., on the 10th floor of Sprau Tower. Her presentation is free and open to the public. For more information on Hiromi Ito, see http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2008/09/066.html.

Prague 2009 TAs Announced

The following students are recipients of TA positions for our 2009 Prague Summer Program:

FICTION: Marcus Johnson, James Miranda, Katie Burpo
POETRY: Andrea England, Chad Sweeney
CREATIVE NONFICTION: Marin Heinritz
MULTI-GENRE: Karen Wurl
SCRIPTWRITING: Robert Kirkbride
AFTERNOON SEMINARS: Ilse Schweitzer
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Chris Carter

Robert Bradley 2008/2009 Distinguished Alumnus

This year's departmental Distinguished Alumnus, Robert Bradley, will be honored at the College Award Ceremony this Friday afternoon. Robert earned the B.A. degree cum laude from the Western Michigan College of Education in 1951 with a major in English Language and Literature and minors in History and French. It was at this time that he received the George Sprau Award in English. Following his graduation, he served in the U.S. Army. After his Honorable Discharge with an official Letter of Appreciation, he enrolled in the Horace Rackham School of Graduate Studies of the University of Michigan, leaving with a M.A. in History. Following three years of teaching in the Lapeer, Michigan, Public Schools, he and his wife, the former Ann Humphreys, came to the Detroit area. His career continued in the Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Public Schools from which he retired in 1991. He was a Fulbright grantee in Denmark during the 1963-1964 academic year as a visiting lecturer in American Language and Literature. Publications include book reviews for the Mensa Bulletin; History, a publication of the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation; and Best Sellers, a publication of the University of Scranton (PA). He has volunteered at the Detroit Institute of Arts, at Henry Ford Cottage Hospital, at the Dominican Literacy Center, and as Program Chairman of the League of Women Voters of Grosse Pointe.
It is wonderful to be able to honor one of the thousands of dedicated teachers we have graduated over the years. Robert has agreed to visit and speak to us on April 15 (mark your calendars) during our annual Department Awards & Recognition Ceremony.