Warren Wilson College honors faculty MacArthur Fellows Bryant Voigt and McHugh as “Giants of the Mind”

Warren Wilson College celebrated the accomplishments of MFA Program for Writers faculty members Ellen Bryant Voigt and Heather McHugh, proclaiming them “Giants of the Mind” at an event Friday for special guests. Having both received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowships – McHugh in 2009 and Bryant Voigt in 2015 – the renowned poets and fellow educators are noted by the Foundation for being “exception[ally] creative” with the capacity to contribute even more to their craft.

“It is a thrill to me that the first of these events is hosting two of the archetypes, real pillars of the MFA Program,” said Paula Garrett, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College. “The MFA Program for Writers is the most respected of its kind in the country and the unqualified highlight of the College’s academic program.”

As the College’s newest initiative to honor profound academic achievement, the “Giants of the Mind” event illustrates how the legacy of “big ideas” still propels Warren Wilson College via its students, faculty and staff. The theme carries over from the relaunch of the Warren Wilson College magazine, Owl & Spade, in which President Steve Solnick wrote, “The power of people through their ideas and actions is central to the DNA of the College—we think in terms of ‘what if …,’ and we achieve great outcomes. … [It’s not possible] without individuals who achieve their visions thanks to their presence of mind, persistence, resourcefulness and a conscience that reminds them we all owe a debt to those around us.”

The event gives College constituents the opportunity to get up close and personal with the incredibly talented people associated with the school. Bryant Voigt and McHugh spent the evening reading poetry and signing copies of their award-winning books of poetry. While the event honored the two most recent Warren Wilson College MacArthur Fellows, faculty members Eleanor Wilner and Andrea Barrett also received the “genius” grant in 1991 and 2001, respectively.

MacArthur Fellowships, known worldwide as the ‘genius’ grant, give both women a significant amount of money – $625,000 over five years in Bryant Voigt’s case – to live life with the “flexibility to pursue their own artistic, intellectual and professional activities,” according to the MacArthur Foundation.

“For me, it translates very directly into available time,” said Bryant Voigt, who created the MFA Program for Writers. “If I don’t have to worry about income, if I don’t have to worry about anything, somebody is saying, ‘take this time and be wherever you want to be.’ It gives me time to read, time to think, I hope time to make poems.”

While Bryant-Voigt is new to the award, McHugh, an author of seven collections of poems and a chancellor of the American Academy of Poets, said it gave her time to create the Seattle-based nonprofit CAREGIFTED. The organization “grants respite to long-term family caregivers and works to greaten public recognition of their gifts to society, as well as of their historically unprecedented numbers.”

“It is amazing,” McHugh said. “It is an amazing award because it doesn’t require you to do something. What that winds up doing is making your internal requirements have to be faced. Poets, generally, just don’t have that luxury.”

Bryant Voigt and McHugh are currently teaching in the MFA Programs for Writers’ winter residency, which concludes Jan. 13. The low-residency program, the first of its kind in the country, began in 1976 and relocated to Warren Wilson College in 1981. Nearing its 35th year at the College, the program holds two 10-day residencies each year, in January and July. MFA alumni have published several hundred books, and the program’s faculty members have won every major honor in the country, including Guggenheim Fellowships, Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award.

For more information, visit http://warren-wilson.edu.