CWU Professor And Poet Awarded Prestigious $25,000 Grant

December 15, 2008

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Published author and poet Joseph E. Powell, professor of English in Central Washington University's College of Arts and Humanities, received some great news this month. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced Powell as one of its recipients of a prestigious $25,000 Literature Fellowship for Poetry. The literature grant, which is the first round in a series of federal funds the NEA is awarding in fiscal year 2009, was one of just 42 awarded nationwide out of nearly 1,000 applicants.

"This is exciting news," says CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre. "It is a great distinction for CWU and a much-deserved honor for Joe."

According to the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Dr. Marji Morgan, this is one of the most prestigious awards a writer can receive. She explains, "When it comes to grants, the news doesn't get much better than this for a writer. As far as we know, this is the first time anyone at Central has been awarded this NEA fellowship."

Powell, who grew up on a small farm in Ellensburg, Wash., and is a CWU alumnus, has been teaching at Central since the early 1980s. He says, "This national recognition is good for Central, the College of Arts and Humanities and our creative writing program."

The award-winning author is currently working on his fourth full-length book of poems, which he hopes to publish soon. Other books Powell has published are "Counting the Change" in 1986; "Winter Insomnia" in 1993 and "Getting Here" in 1997. All are full-length books of poems. He's also published a book of short stories that came out in 2007 titled "Fish Grooming & Other Stories," and he co-wrote a book about meter in poetry called "Accent on Meter: A Handbook for the Readers of Poetry" in 2004 with Mark Halperin, CWU professor emeritus of English.

According to the NEA Web site, "Literature Fellowships are the Arts Endowment's most direct investment in American creativity, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write."

The fellowships alternate annually between poetry and prose. The amount awarded to poets nationwide in 2009 totals more than $1 million.

NEA Chairman Dana Gioia states, "These grants are an investment in our nation's culture, and I'm proud to say that the return on that investment benefits Americans from coast to coast."

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent, public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established, bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965, the Arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts.

Media Contact: Teri Olin, CWU Public Relations & Marketing, 509-963-1416, olint@cwu.edu

Central Washington University is a master's degree-granting institution with approximately 10,000 students and 1,500 faculty and staff. More than 160 undergraduate and master's degrees are offered. Founded in 1891, the Ellensburg campus is located in the heart of Washington State, nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Columbia River. Since 1975, CWU has served the needs of placebound students at six university centers throughout the state. CWU is an AA/EEO Title IX Institution.