SJSU Legacy of Poetry Day  

SJSU's Legacy of Poets


 

Poets

Ashton, Sally

Bland, Henry Meade

Burns, Bill

Caldwell, Julinda

Cervantes, Lorna Dee

Clark, Naomi

Collins, Gloria

Daley, Edith

de Araujo, Virginia

Edgerton, Tod

Elloitt, Ellen Coit

Escamilla, Rachelle

Evans, Kate

Friends
Erica Goss

Greathead, S. Estelle
Gularte, Lara

Hass, Robert

Holloway, Roberta

Karim, Persis

Kizer, Carolyn

Lewandowski, Lou

Lycurgus, Cate

Maio, Samuel

Markham, Edwin

McPherson, Sandra
Merrin, Jeredith

Money, Peter

Moody, Neli

Peterson, Nils

Phelan, James D.

Rich, Adrienne

Royce, Ruth

Sanderson, Virginia

Soldofsky, Alan
Stafford, William

Students and a few faculty

Taylor, Mary Lou

Whiting (Carpio), Patricia

Wyatt, Faricita Hall

Young, Al

 

 

  SJSU Students Past and Present

Ashton, Sally, (alum 2001)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Bland, Henry Meade (faculty 1899 - 1931)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems
  • California Poet Laureate from 1929 - 1931 (second person to hold this distinction)
  • 4/21/1863 - 4/29/1931

Burns, Bill (alum 1966)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Caldwell, Julinda (alum )

  • Click here for biography and links to poems

Cervantes, Lorna Dee (alum 1984)

Clark, Naomi (faculty)

  • Lecturer
  • SJSU alum; PhD from UC Santa Cruz
  • Per Professor Alan Soldofsky - she helped make San Jose a center for poetry through the many workshops she led and her work at SJSU and the San Jose Poetry Center
  • Quarterly Book of Literature for 1997 - information on Dr. Clark and her second book of poems - When I Kept Silence (1988) + the poem "Needle's Eye."

Collins, Gloria (faculty)

Daley, Edith (friend of campus and Markham, circa 1917 - 1933)

  • State College Times of November 23, 1933 (pg 4) includes a poem she wrote for Edwin Markham. The poem was included in her collection of poems - The Angel in the Sun. That book was published by The Pacific Short Story Club in 1917, which was produced through the Normal School.

de Araujo, Virginia P. (faculty 1975 - ??)

  • Professor of English
  • Helped start the MFA program.
  • BS from SJSU (1970) and PhD from Stanford (1976)
  • Often taught composition (ENG 1A and 1B). Per Gloria Collins, she thought that to write a good poem, one had to know grammar.

Edgerton, Tod (lecturer)

Elliott, Ellen Coit (guest lecturer 1932)

  • July 27, 1932 - read her poems and discussed modern poetry at a tea held in her honor in the Home Making Building at the College.
  • Wife of Dr. Orrin Leslie Elliott, former Registrar at Stanford
  • Some of her works were published in the Poetry Society of London's "A Poets Fellowship"

Escamilla, Rachelle (alum)

  • Click here.
  • Founder of SJSU Poets and Writers Coalition

Evans, Kate (faculty)

Friends - poets who participated in poetry events of SJSU

Goss, Erica (alum, MFA 2007)

Greathead, S. Estelle (registrar 1905 - 1923)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Gularte, Lara (MFA alum 2005)

  • Click here for biography and link to poems

Hass, Robert  (faculty)

  • Taught at SJSU prior to being named U.S. Poet Laureate
  • U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995 - 1997
  • Currently teaches at UC Berkeley
  • Biography from the Academy of American Poet + a few poems
  • Biography and a few poems from Modern American Poetry site at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Holloway, Roberta C. (faculty September 1, 1946 to January 30, 1970)

  • Information on poetry activities she endowed at UC Berkeley
  • Earned these degrees from UC Berkeley: AB in 1923, MA in 1927, PhD in 1945
  • Dr. Holloway took a sabbatical in spring 1960.  She spent the leave in London doing research on John Donne's Third Satyre and the prose fiction of George Grissing. While in London, she used the British Museum and the library at London University.
  • Entry from San Jose State College Bulletin for 1947-1948 lists Dr. Holloway as an Assistant Professor of English. "A.B., 1923, M.A., 1926, Ph.D. 1945, University of California. Teaching fellow in English, University of California, 1923-25, '27, '28. Instructor in English, Visalia High School and Junior College, 1929-33 and 1934-35. Instructor in Subject A, University of California, 1935-46 and Summer Sessions 1944, '45, '46. At San Jose since 1946."
  • Some of her poetry was published in Poetry magazine:
    • "Sorrow" - March 1924
    • "Maze at Midnight" and "Wake for Another Day" - Feb. 1933
    • "Remembering Atlas," "The Wide Day," "The Lovely Children" and "Invitation to Many Voices" - July 1937
  • 9/4/02 - 1/30/78

Karim, Persis (faculty)

  • Information from the College of Humanities & The Arts 

Kizer, Carolyn (Lurie Fellow, Spring 2001)

Lewandowski, Lou (faculty 1969 - 2000)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Lycurgus, Cate (faculty, assessment facilitator 2014 to present)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Maio, Samuel (faculty 1990 - present)

  • BA 1977 University of Utah; MA 1979 University of Utah; PhD 1986 University of Southern California
  • Information from the College of Humanities & The Arts 

Markham, Edwin (alum 1872)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems
  • 4/23/1852 - 3/8/1940

McPherson, Sandra (alum 1965)

Merrin, Jeredith (alum 1978)

  • Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University
  • MFA in English SJSU 1978
  • PhD in English UC Berkeley 1987
  • Numerous works including "Family Reunion" in Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, 4/5/07; poems published in ABZ, Barrow Street, Occident, Paris Review, Ploughshares, San Jose Studies, The Southern Review, Threepenny Review, Yale Review, Zoomorphic, Cup (2014), and Shift (1996).
  • Links to some poems:
  • Information from Poets.org.

Moody, Neli (faculty)

Money, Peter (alum)

Peterson, Nils T. (faculty 1963 to 1999)

  • Professor Emeritus of English
  • BA 1954 Central College of Kentucky; MA 1958 Rutgers University
  • Click here for biographical information from the Guild for Psychological Studies
  • Co-founder of Poetry Center San Jose

  • Appointed first Santa Clara County Poet Laureate for 4/1/09 - 3/31/2011

  • Born 11/23/33

Phelan, James D. (friend of SJSU; endowed the Phelan Award for student creative writings)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Rich, Adrienne (faculty 1985-1986)

  • Click here for biography and links to poems

Royce, Ruth (alum, 1877; librarian 1881 - 1918)

  • Click here for biography and links to poems

Sanderson, Virginia Somes (faculty 1922 - ??)

  • Click here for biography and selected poems

Soldofsky, Alan (faculty 1988 - present)

  • BA 1971 University of Iowa; MFA 1972 University of Iowa
  • Information from the College of Humanities & The Arts 

Stafford, William Edgar (faculty 1956-1957)

Taylor, Mary Lou (alum 1970)

  • Bio from National League of American Pen Women, Inc.
  • Q&A from 2016 SJSU Washington Square magazine
  • Poem - On First Looking at Antelope Valley
  • Select poems
  • 1930 - 2023

Whiting (nee Carpio), Patricia (student and student assistant mid-1960s

  • Click here for biography and links to poems

Wyatt, Faricita Hall (alum 1935)

Young, Al  (Lurie Fellow, Spring 2002; Guest lecturer April 5, 2007)

This page last updated March 29, 2024

 

Comments? 
Please contact annette.nellen@sjsu.edu

Last Modified: Mar 29, 2024