Giving Back

Generous alumni like you make it possible for us to support our students and faculty in true Learn by Doing experiences like these below. 

Donor Funding Sends Student Poet to Writers Conference

Despy Boutris and Mira Rosenthal

This year, donor funding helped support student poet Despy Boutris’s attendance at the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference. Despy had this to say about her experience at this premier conference:

“Thanks to the generous support of the English Department, I had the opportunity to attend the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference and Bookfair from March 8-11 in Tampa, Florida. The experience was incredible, though it required major commitment on my part — I had to miss three days of class, fly 3,000 miles and lodge in a hotel. I doubt I could have made the commitment to go without the faith and financial support of the English Department, which endorsed my decision to join the professional writing community and to commit to the inconveniences of attending a conference during the busy academic quarter. Thanks to the combination of the funding the department provided, money I earned working as a peer-tutor in the Writing and Rhetoric Center, and begging for my mother’s frequent flyer miles, I ultimately attended the conference; I had an amazing experience there. The conference also helped me learn more about Master’s of Fine Arts programs in Creating Writing all over the country, and I think it ultimately helped me obtain my spot at the University of Houston next year. Most importantly, it strengthened my Cal Poly Senior Project by enabling me to interview contemporary poets I admire.”

Donor Funding Enables Faculty to Present at International Conference

Canterbury Cathedral

Donor funds also enabled Dr. Brad Campbell to deliver his paper “Intelligence Testing on the Colour Line: African-American Literature, Army Alpha/Beta Tests, and the Mania of Mental Difference” at the Literature, Education, and the Sciences of the Mind conference at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. 

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Please consider making a donation to the English Department, so we can continue our tradition of faculty and student excellence! Every gift counts.