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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/27/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
September 8, 2004 Local writer to promote her craft as state's poet laureate Sweet appointed as Wisconsin's 2nd poetry ambassador By John Dipko, Press-Gazette Madison bureau She now has a chance to prove it statewide.
Sweet has been named the state's second poet laureate, a title given
every four years to a Wisconsinite with outstanding skill in writing and
reading poetry.
In her role, Sweet will promote poetry and lead a project that contributes
to its growth as an art. She also will plan and attend at least four statewide
literary events a year and perform in at least four government, state
and civil events as requested by various officials and groups.
Gov. Jim Doyle announced Sweet's appointment Tuesday.
"She will be an important ambassador of poetry to people in all areas
of our state," Doyle said in a statement. "I am pleased to appoint someone
with such great dedication to reaching out to both large and small communities
and encouraging participation in the arts."
Sweet, an associate professor of humanistic studies at the University
of Wisconsin-Green Bay, will succeed Ellen Kort of Appleton, whom former
Gov. Tommy Thompson named the state's first poet laureate in 2000.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, who was elected out of Green Bay and also heads
up the Wisconsin Arts Board, said the position of poet laureate is an
important one for Wisconsin.
"We don't have enough poetry in our lives," she said. "It reminds us
that the arts and culture are central to our lives, both aesthetically
and economically in Wisconsin."
Sweet was born in Minnesota and moved to Wisconsin at age 8.
She has lived in Green Bay since 1989 and has two sons, ages 30 and
27, and three grandchildren.
A Native American, Sweet is a member of the White Earth band of the
Minnesota Ojibwe.
She said her grandfather and great-grandfather also were writers.
"I think subjects that are puzzling or of concern to me often times
will find their way into my poems," she said. "As a young mother, this
also was a way I kept record of my children growing up and myself growing
into motherhood and being a poet."
Sweet has published five poetry books, a host of individual poems, fictional
writing and essays in various periodicals.
She was one of five U.S. writers sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to attend
the First World Congress of Indigenous Literatures of the Americas in
Guatemala City.
Sweet's poem "Constellations" is part of a permanent installation and
etched in granite corridor walls at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee.
"I know that poetry is a very powerful tool for generating compassion,
teaching tolerance, increasing awareness and appreciation of people and
their differences, their ideas and the gifts they have to share," Sweet
said.
The position of poet laureate carries no state salary, Doyle spokeswoman
Ethnie Groves said.
Though the position is unpaid, the poet laureate can be reimbursed for
related mileage and travel expenses, and he or she may accept money and
gifts from places where they appear.
Sweet's proposed statewide project is a traveling workshop of poetry
and writing that would move from urban to rural settings, encouraging
people to write and then display their works in their community.
A special nominating panel reviewed applications this spring and summer
and recommended three poets including Sweet, Tom Montag of Fairwater and
John Lehman of Cambridge, Groves said. The governor has the final say.
Groves could not say Tuesday how many people originally applied for
the post.
Another local professor honored
Denise Scheberle, professor of public and environmental affairs at the
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, will receive the 2004 Regents Teaching
Excellence Award this week for outstanding career achievement.
Scheberle will receive the honor Friday during a meeting of the University
of Wisconsin System Board of Regents in Madison.
Other educators who will receive this year's award include Eric Anderson,
professor of wildlife at UW-Stevens Point, and the Department of Physics
at UW-La Crosse.
Each winner will receive $5,000 for professional development. This year
marks the 13th year for the award.
Winners were announced Tuesday.
Scheberle, who earned her doctorate in political science at Colorado
State University, joined UW-Green Bay in 1992 and became a full professor
in 2002.
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