ENG-LIGHTENED CSU Department of English — Fall 2024 Newsletter

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Honoring Yusef Komunyakaa (M.A. '81)

Celebrated poet Yusef Komunyakaa, who earned his M.A. in English from Colorado State University in 1981, has been named this year's winner of the William E. Morgan Alumni Achievement Award.

Komunyakaa began writing poetry in 1973 and published his first book of poems, Dedications & Other Darkhorses, in 1977. In 1984, Komunyakaa began to receive wider attention when he published Copacetic, a collection of poems that showcased how his poetry was influenced by jazz. A decade later, Komunyakaa received the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems 1977-1989.⁠

As both a jazz and soldier poet, Komunyakaa has rejected the idea that you should write only what you know and prefers to write what you are willing to discover, stating: “Be inquisitive, and not just for the sake of information…but because I do think that it keeps us connected to who we are. Life is celebration and confrontation, the same as poetry.”⁠

Komunyakaa’s teaching credits include the University of New Orleans, Indiana University, and Princeton University. He currently lives in New York City where he is a distinguished senior poet in New York University’s graduate creative writing program.⁠

About the Morgan award: Named for the eighth president of the University, Dr. William E. Morgan, this award is the highest honor given by the Alumni Association and is reserved for individuals who have excelled at the national or international level. The purpose of this award is to recognize a graduate who has attained extraordinary distinction and success in their field of endeavor and whose achievements have brought credit to CSU and benefited their fellow citizens.⁠

Upcoming Events

Clark Groundbreaking: Wed. Oct. 30 from 4-5:30 p.m. | Clark Building Site

Join us to celebrate the future of the liberal arts in a new Clark building, the home for student success, liberal arts research and creative excellence, and a 21st century interdisciplinary education.

Hear from CSU leadership, including the president, provost, and dean, while we mark this historic milestone in support of the liberal arts and undergraduate education at CSU.

Writer's Harvest: Thurs. Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. | LSC University Ballroom

The Creative Writing Reading Series presents Writer’s Harvest, featuring CSU faculty Andrew Altschul, Sarah Perry, and Sasha Steensen.

Friedman Feminist Press Research Grant Presentation: Tues. Nov. 12, 3-4 p.m. | Zoom

Please join us for Colorado State University Libraries' Friedman Feminist Press Research Grant Presentation, “‘women are creating new rules!’: Separatist Strategies and Collective Living,” by Dr. Sarah Cooper.

In 1974, land in Grant’s Pass, Oregon, was purchased to start WomanShare, the first women’s land in southern Oregon. To understand how land stewards enacted political ideologies in their living practices Dr. Cooper turns to the 1976 publication Country Lesbians, a nonfiction text authored by the five women who founded the collective. She reads Country Lesbians, as part handbook and part memoir to address the question: what did a separatist politic historically and at present afford land stewards?

Dr. Cooper is a Canadian-American academic and currently, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the English Department at Colorado State University. Her interdisciplinary research resides at the intersection of archives, rhetoric, gender and queer theory, and sexuality studies. Most recently, her research appears in the Journal of Lesbian Studies. She is also the author of two poetry collections: Permanent Marker (Paper Nautilus, 2020) and 89% (Clemson University Press 2022).

Graduate Student Showcase: Wed. Nov. 20 | LSC Grand Ballroom

The 2024 Graduate Student Showcase presentations will be held in-person in the LSC on November 20 from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Showcase your research and creativity while connecting with other graduate students and faculty at CSU, learn about other disciplines, and gain conference experience.

MFA Reading: Thurs. Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. | Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, Hoffert Learning Center

Students in their final year of CSU's graduate program in Creative Writing give a public reading from their thesis or other major work in progress. Please join us as we celebrate these promising writers!

Readers include: Ainhoa Palacios (fiction), Jake Friedman (poetry), and Becca Tabb (creative nonfiction).

CSU English in the News

Summer/Fall 2024

SEE-THROUGH 4.0 brings together CSU artists, writers and Fort Collins community (9/25/24)

Summer Vacation Spotlight: MFA students, alum deepen craft at prestigious writing conferences and workshops (9/18/24)

Creative Writing Reading Series announces 2024-25 lineup of award-winning writers and poets (9/13/24)

CSU’s Joe Blake Center for Engaged Humanities Announces 2024-2025 Faculty Fellows (8/30/24)

CSU grads earn Fulbright Scholarships for 2024-25 academic year (8/30/24)

Alumni Spotlight: Katie Naughton (MFA, ’16) discusses debut “The Real Ethereal” (8/06/24)

Driving Change Through Creative Motivations (7/17/24)

English faculty share experiences as local writer and reader in residence at Wolverine Farm Publick House (6/17/24)