Martha Collins Named to New Chair in Creative Writing
Summer 1999
The first endowed professorship of the New Oberlin Century campaign will strengthen one of Oberlin’s nationally renowned programs, and Oberlin’s aspiring poets and novelists will be the beneficiaries.
Martha Collins, professor of creative writing, has been named to the new Pauline Delaney Chair in Creative Writing. Collins is also director of the creative writing program.
Honorary trustee Andrew Delaney ’42 gave the College $1 million to establish the chair, named for his wife.
“Martha Collins is a highly gifted and respected poet and translator with an astonishing number of publications in high-profile places,” said Clayton Koppes, former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “She is also a highly regarded teacher of creative writing.” Collins’ work has been published in numerous anthologies, textbooks, and periodicals, including the Paris Review and The American Poetry Review.
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| Keeping the faith: Pauline and Andrew Delaney ’42 have ensured the excellence of Oberlin’s creative writing program into the next century. The program, said Dean Clayton Koppes, is “one of Oberlin’s gems. It has a strong attraction for students, and it has produced a number of outstanding creative writers and creative writing teachers.” |
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Collins recently published her fourth book of poetry, Some Things Words Can Do (Sheep Meadow Press, 1998). She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa. Prior to joining Oberlin’s faculty, she taught at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where she founded the creative writing program. Her honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bunting Institute, as well as three Pushcart prizes and a Witter Bynner Grant for translation.
Endowed chairs honor faculty members for their intellectual and artistic achievements, but they also provide a direct benefit to students, Koppes said.
“Chairs like this help us attract and retain outstanding teachers, whom we might not otherwise be able to have on our faculty. So there’s a direct benefit to students in terms of the quality of teaching,” he said.
Andrew Delaney retired in 1985 as vice chairman and chief investment officer of the American General Corporation in Houston. Pauline Delaney pursued a career in newspaper and magazine journalism, but has maintained a lifelong interest in creative writing. The gift, she said, “is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. It will benefit the college, affirm hard-working teachers, and give that extra boost to young writers that they need.”
| Words from the chair: "Oberlin's creative writing program is very special," said Martha Collins, the new Delaney Professor of Creative Writing. "Students work very hard, and they produce some wonderful things. It's thrilling to be part of it." |
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Although her husband is the Oberlin graduate, Pauline Delaney feels a deep connection to the College. “The thing I love most about Oberlin is that it emphasizes the arts at the same time that it achieves excellence in studies of mathematics, languages, politics, and the sciences,” she said.
“I graduated in journalism from Oklahoma A & M College in 1942 and achieved a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas in 1982, but I consider Oberlin College my soul mother, my alma mater,” she continued.
The Delaneys are longtime and steadfast supporters of Oberlin College. Andrew Delaney served on the board of trustees for 11 years, where he was a member of the budget and finance committees and chair of the investment committee. His philanthropy at Oberlin has included endowing the Andrew and Pauline Delaney Professorship in Mathematics and the Andrew Delaney faculty fellowship in the social sciences. The Delaneys are members of the charter class of the Fellows of the John Frederick Oberlin Society.
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