July 2010

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News & Events

2010 Weekend@Wilson
MFA Director Debra Allbery wins 2010 Grub Street poetry prize
TRIO meets Triad
Recycling Center cob building
Did you know?
Cross-cultural visit to Costa Rica
2010 Homecoming and Family Weekend
In the media
Links

2010 Weekend@Wilson

During the last weekend of June, alumni, friends and their families converged on campus to take part in a fun-filled Weekend@Wilson. Workshops kicked off on Fri. and continued through Sat. with an eclectic mix of classes. Crowd favorites included Fun with Backyard Chickens, Appalachian Basket Making and the brewery tour – an off-campus adventure showcasing Asheville’s finest. Participants had a chance to enjoy some barbecue, listen to WWC graduates Underhill Rose, hear stories from current students and dance the night away in the Pavilion. Check out photos from Weekend@Wilson and join the fun next June.

MFA Director Debra Allbery wins 2010 Grub Street poetry prize

As director of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, Debra Allbery is accustomed to seeing people associated with the program routinely pile up awards. But Allbery is no slouch herself when it comes to being recognized for her work.

Her forthcoming book, Fimbul-Winter, has been selected as winner of the 2010 Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry. With the award comes a $1000 prize, along with a reading and reception in Boston where Grub Street is based. Allbery also will have the opportunity to teach a craft class there, likely soon after the January 2011 MFA residency at Warren Wilson. Grub Street is a highly regarded writers' organization in Boston that offers classes, workshops and readings for poets and novelists. And, as Allbery noted, “They've provided the training ground for a few of our MFA students.”

TRIO meets Triad

In June the Office of Admission welcomed 14 prospective students to campus for a three-day program introducing them to the Triad. The students are part of TRIO, a group of federal programs to increase access to higher education for economically disadvantaged students. The group participated in a forestry walk with professor Dave Ellum, worked in the Garden with Jennifer Miyakawa ’10 and took part in a service project at MANNA Foodbank with WWC Director of Service Brooke Millsaps. Stan Cross led the group on a Green Walkabout and professor Ed Raiola guided an outdoor leadership session. The program also included forums on educational access, academic success, multicultural affairs and college search/application processes. Four WWC students – Gerrica Watson, Iman Khree-Johnson, Adon Adon and Michael Carter – helped to plan and implement the program and continue to serve as mentors to the visiting students.

Recycling Center cob building

Geneva Bierce-Wilson ’10 is working on a cob building at the campus recycling center. She invites people who are interested in learning about cob building to be part to the process. Contact Geneva to get involved.

Did you know?

Laura Boosinger ’80 will perform, and she and Phil Jamison (Math/Appalachian Music professor) will lead workshops as part of the 75th anniversary celebration of the Blue Ridge Parkway in September.

Cross-cultural visit to Costa Rica

Living fences crisscrossing the landscape, columns of smoke flowing from a volcano in the distance, a vibrantly pink church marking the center of town – these were images that greeted the Warren Wilson group as we arrived in La Flor, our first stop on an eight-day Costa Rican adventure. Eleven of us, all with different ties to the College, embarked on a Wilson study abroad experience. Under the guidance of Social Work Professor Lucy Lawrence, we covered the same ground as her study abroad students. We had a packed itinerary, including working on an organic farm, touring a coffee cooperative, discussing politics with a former minister of labor and visiting a cathedral. Thanks to Lucy’s expertise, our group went beyond the typical tourist experience by staying off the beaten track and interacting with locals. A core element of Warren Wilson’s mission is facilitating cross-cultural understanding for our students; the Costa Rica trip for friends and alumni proves that goal can be achieved at any age. See Costa Rica photos.

— Ally Donlan

2010 Homecoming and Family Weekend

Mark Oct. 1-3 on your calendar for Homecoming and Family Weekend. It’s your alumni reunion year if you graduated in a year ending with a ’0 or a ’5. Contact alumni@warren-wilson.edu if you’d like to help plan a social activity for your class. Family Weekend is a time for current students’ families to have a campus experience of their own. Parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are invited. Online registration for both events will begin mid-August. Info: Ally Donlan, 828.771.2092 or adonlan@warren-wilson.edu.

In the media

MFA graduate Matthew Olzman receives 2010 Kresge Artist Fellowship

Claudia Nix ’69 on Asheville’s Comprehensive Bicycle Plan

Making music in Swannanoa

Agrarian Road Trip with the Presbyterian Hunger Program

Douglass DeCandia ’09 starts organic produce buyer’s club

“Here’s looking at you, kids”

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