The Joan Beebe Graduate Teaching Fellowship

The Fellowship brings a graduate of the College's MFA Program for Writers to campus to teach in the undergraduate writing program for an academic year. The fellowship is awarded by the MFA Academic Board, the Director of the Undergraduate Writing Program, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The Joan Beebe Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship brings a graduate of Warren Wilson's nationally acclaimed MFA Program for Writers to campus for a year to teach undergraduate composition and creative writing classes. The Fellowship is named for the beloved former Dean of the College who aided the MFA Program's move to Warren Wilson in 1981 (it had been founded at Goddard College, in Vermont, in 1976). Then-program director Michelle Simons, program founder and Academic Board Chair Ellen Bryant Voigt, and program alumna-turned-faculty member Joan Aleshire all cite Joan Beebe's influence as key to the graduate program's successful transplanting.

The first Joan Beebe Post-Graduate Teaching Fellowship was awarded in 1997 to poet Laura Newbern. Since then, the position has been held by a variety of writers, many of whom have gone on to great success as writers and as teachers. They include Elizabeth Arnold, A. Van Jordan, Richard Schmitt, Emilie White, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Valerie Bandura, Gary Lilley, Christine Hale, and 2008-2009 Fellow Justin Gardiner.
 

Beebe Fellows

1997-1998:           Laura Newbern
1998-1999:           Elizabeth Arnold
1999-2000:           A. Van Jordan
2000-2001:           A. Van Jordan
                                Richard Schmitt
2001-2002:           Emilie White
2002-2003:           Jasmine Beach-Ferrara
2003-2004:           Jasmine Beach-Ferrara
2004-2005:           Valerie Bandura
2005-2006:      Valerie Bandura
                                Gary Lilley
2006-2007            Christine Hale
Fall 2007               Rodney Jack (one semester)
2008-2009            Justin Gardiner

Beebe Fellows by genre
1997-1998:           Laura Newbern                    poet
1998-1999:           Elizabeth Arnold                  poet
1999-2000:           A. Van Jordan                      poet
2000-2001:           A. Van Jordan                      poet
                                Richard Schmitt                   fiction writer
2001-2002:           Emilie White                         fiction writer
2002-2003:           Jasmine Beach-Ferrara      fiction writer
2003-2004:           Jasmine Beach-Ferrara      fiction writer
2004-2005:           Valerie Bandura                  poet
2005-2006:     Valerie Bandura                        poet
                                Gary Lilley                            poet
2006-2007            Christine Hale                      fiction writer
Fall 2007               Rodney Jack               poet
2008-2009            Justin Gardiner                     poet