College News

New Letters fiction writer, Molly McNett, has won the 2008 John Simmons Short Fiction Book Award. Her award-winning book, One Happy Dog, will appear later this year from the University of Iowa Press and will include her story, “Rumor’s Gift,” from the spring 2006 issue of New Letters.

Geosciences Professor Wei Ji has been heading the Advanced Certificate Program in GIS in the Department of Geosciences of the College. Established in 2006, it has enrolled a number of students with the majority representing professionals drawn from agencies and companies in the region. The program combines training in GIS techniques and application of geospatial methods for environmental and geographic research, crime analysis, urban planning, and economic studies.”

The Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design had a terrific honor bestowed on it this November at the Missouri APA (American Planning Assoc.) conference in St. Louis. Assistant Professor Jacob Wagner’s senior studio project, “A City at the Crossroads” earned an award for Outstanding Project and Collaboration. Nominations came from across the state and represented a wide variety of projects, including master plans, redevelopment and innovative projects as well as efforts to advance planning in the State of Missouri.

More College News

The 2008 Puschart Prize Anthology, just out, contains a winning poem by native-American Adrian C. Louis, first published in New Letters, “Note to a Pine Ridge Girl Who Can No Longer Read,” and cites for special mention fiction by Gary Gildner (“Celebrations”), essays by Harrison Fletcher (“The Beautiful City of Tirzah”), Moe Folk (“32nd Running of the Tempus Stakes”), and Margo Berdeshevsky (“Century Walker: The Tsunami Notebook”), from New Letters.

For the third consecutive year, New Letters quarterly has been selected for inclusion in The Best American Poetry anthology. Each year, The Best anthology (Scribner) has a different editor; for the 2007 edition, editor Heather McHugh chose an Albert Goldbarth poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (good title), from New Letters volume 72 nos. 3 & 4.

Rita Messina, Administrative Assistant, Department of Geosciences received the 2007 Staff Council “A True Unsung Hero Award.” Four additional staff members (Cecelia Brewer, APP Program Coordinator; Tammy Henderson, Administrative Assistant, English Department; Tanya Henderson, Administrative Assistant, Mathematics Department; and Catherine Rawlings, Administrative Assistant, Psychology Department) from Arts and Sciences were nominated for the award.