Freshman Scholars Program

Centennial Commemoration Poem

Instructor:  John Kitterman, Ph.D.

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Project Description:

Up to two students interested in English, history, creative writing, and/or education.

Freshman Scholar students will be working with a faculty member to research and write a commemorative poem celebrating the college's 100th anniversary. Over the two weeks, the project will involve researching the college's history from 1913 to the present, finding examples of other commemorative poems similar in nature to analyze as models, and composing the poem itself.

Scholars will collect, read, discuss, and organize documents related to the college's history, using online and print resources from the library, using critical thinking to decide what events and people in the life of the college should make their way into the poem.  Scholars will also search for, read, and analyze commemorative poems from other historical occasions to use as examples, using critical thinking to assess style, format, and content to decide what format would be best for our project. Finally, students will work with the professor to write, revise, and edit a poem appropriate for the occasion.

John Kitterman, Ph.D. Dr. Kitterman is a poet and novelist and Associate Professor of English. He holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Virginia, and has worked at Ferrum College for the last thirteen years. Before coming to Ferrum, he taught at Norfolk State, Old Dominion, and Longwood. He currently teaches creative writing, film, contemporary literature, and African American studies.

If you have specific questions about this project, please contact Dr. Kitterman directly at JKitterman@ferrum.edu.

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