MCEVER CHAIR

Bruce McEver left Georgia Tech in the 1960's armed with an Industrial Engineering degree and a love of poetry spawned in a class with English professor James Dean Young, who taught at Georgia Tech for 28 years.

What Bruce McEver learned about the relationships between the mechanical arts and the fine arts went with him to Harvard and, McEver believes, forms the foundation of his business acumen and success. Aside from being a lover of poetry, McEver has gone on to publish three chapbooks and one book of poetry, Full Horizon, which is available from Jeanne Duval Editions. His poems have also been widely published in journals and magazines across the country.

McEver wants all Tech students to experience the broader aspects of liberal arts, including poetry, literature, and travel, so they will understand the context and impact of the technical expertise they are gaining, and he endowed the McEver Chair so that the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture of the Ivan Allen College can bring a top writer to campus each year, "an exceptional opportunity for Georgia Tech students" says Dr. Kenneth Knoespel, School Chair, "to be exposed to and study with the finest writing talents in the country and beyond."

In addition to teaching Georgia Tech students, each visiting chair reaches into the community with a program of poetry events and workshops designed to recognize poetry for its possibilities in all our lives and to recognize those involved in the craft of writing poetry, whether accomplished, rising, or beginning, for the artists they are.

To fulfill the McEver vision for the Spring 2009 semester, Katie Chaple, Travis Wayne Denton and John Skoyles will visit the Georgia Tech campus, each contributing to on-campus poetry classes for students, a free all-day-Saturday poetry-writing workshop in the community for interested persons (see workshops), and a free on-campus public reading of their work (see events). They will also visit two area schools as part of Poetry at Tech's outreach program.