McNeese State University - Log Yearbook (Lake Charles, LA)

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Even though there are 21 similar programs across the U.S., the program at McNeese is Exclusive in The only reason McNeese has a Cre- ative Writing Program, according to Dr. John Wood, director of the program, is ‘because we have a (university) presi- dent and vice-president who had enough foresight to push it through.’ The Master of Fine Arts degree in Cre- ative Writing was first instituted 30 years ago in lowa. Today, there are approxi- mately twenty-one MFA programs in the country, and McNeese is the only school in Louisiana to have acquired one. When Wood, who holds an MFA in cre- ative writing, came to McNeese, he start- ed the first creative writing course. Even- tually, many of the students who enrolled in it were published and won state and national contests. When Dr. Jack Doland became president of the university, he im- mediately approved and set up the funds for a graduate degree in creative writing. This type of program is always hard to start. One of the major difficulties in begin- ning an MFA program in creative writing is usually financial. The program is expen- sive, mainly because the school must be able to bring in famous writers for work- shops, have a faculty with specialized de- grees in creative writing, and have a pro- gram that allows for graduate assistant- ships. “We have had incredible support from the administration,’ commented Wood. Usually, in other schools, most programs complain about limited support from their administrators; this is probably due to the IL e e OulSlana amount of money they must invest in such a program. Wood also stated that, ‘‘Every single thing they complain about is not a problem here.’ Although there are about one-hundred programs in the country which have an emphasis in creative writing, only twenty- one offer a pure creative writing degree. The MFA is equivalent to a Ph.D. and re- quires sixty semester hours. Based on the quality of the applicant's work, accep- tance into the program is very competi- tive. Classes in the program are kept small so that the instructors, Dr. Wood, and Dr. Leo Marcello, can have individual confer- ences and work closely with students. ‘There is a lot of very good writing hap- pening in the United States right now,”’ said Wood. Each year an anthology is published by the Associated Writing Pro- gram (AWP). The very best student work is selected from the one-hundred member schools of the AWP. In the most recent edition, twenty-one schools had their stu- dent work in this national publication, and McNeese was one of them. During the last three years, McNeese has had many distinguished poets and prose writers on campus. ‘‘We probably have aS many guests, and maybe even more than the other programs, ’ accord- ing to Wood. McNeese guests have in- cluded Larry McMurtry, author of Terms of Endearment, and W. D. Snodgrass, Pulit- zer Prize winning poet. Seniors Graduates 207

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Bio — Cha Broussard, Dwaunis K. — Lake Charles, Sr. Broussard, Gabriel A. — Lake Charles, Sr. Broussard, Kevin R. — Lake Charles, Sr. Broussard, Mary C. — Jennings, Sr. Broussard, Mary Ann G. — Welsh, Sr. Broussard, Melanie E. — Lake Charles, Sr. Broussard, Merrelea — Pecan Island, Sr. Broussard, Raynard W. — Lacassine, Sr. Broussard, Roberta R. — Lake Charles, Sr. Broussard, Stephen C. — Jennings, Sr. Broussard, Ursula K. — Lake Charles, Sr. Brown, Bertha G. — Lake Charles, Sr. Brown, George C. — Houston, TX, Sr. Brown, Larry D. — Waco, TX, Sr. Brown, Noelle B. — Westlake, Sr. Bryant, Billy R. — Bridge City, TX, Sr. Bryson, Virginia M. — Lake Charles, Sr. Bunch, Barry W. — Sulphur, Sr. Burleigh, Andrea J. — Westlake, Sr. Burleigh, Marr — Grand Coteau, Sr. Burns, Jeanie W. — Lake Charles, Sr. Burns, Shanon G. — DeRidder, Sr. Burrell, Suzanne J. — Lake Charles, Gr. Byford, Mark L» — Baytown, TX, Sr. Byrnes, Colleen A. — Alexandria, Sr. Cady, Robert D. — Lake Charles, Sr. Calcote, Karen M. — Lake Charles, Sr. Calhoun, Karen L. — Lake Charles, Sr. Callahan, Linda G. — DeRidder, Sr. Campbell, Claudia |. — Dry Creek, Sr. Campbell, Jeffrey L. — Gueydan, Sr. Campbell, Melanie A. — Westlake, Sr. Campbell, Sharon D. — Westlake, Gr. Cannon, James K. — Lake Charles, Sr. Carlson, Kathryn J. — Vinton, Sr. Carriere, Paul G. — Sulphur, Sr. Carroll, Bruce W. — Big Spring, TX, Sr. Cart, Kristen E. — Lake Charles, Sr. Carter, Floyd E. — Lake Arthur, Sr. Carter, Linda W. — Lake Charles, Sr. Casey, Richard E. — Lake Charles, Sr. Castille, Marilyn R. — Sulphur, Sr. Castille, Theresa R. — Lake Charles, Sr. Castillo, Rosemary — Harlingen, TX, Sr. Caton, Donna K. — Lake Charles, Sr. Ceasar, Donald R. — Leesville, Sr. Celestine, Sandra P. — Lake Charles, Sr. Cezar, Bonella A. — Oberlin, Sr. Chaddick, Diane — Sulphur, Sr. 206 Seniors Graduates

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The home to a wide range of teaching aids for student teachers and classes, the Curriculum Materials Center concentrates on Helping Teachers Teach The Curriculum Materials Center ac- quires, organizes and circulates the best materials available for student teachers, method classes, library science students, and faculty of the College of Education. The center, located on the second floor of Farrar Hall, seats 68, and consists of a large room, one office, and a partitioned work area. The materials center director selects the materials housed by the cen- Lee ‘Much emphasis is placed on the se- lection of appropriate teaching aids for the use of the student teachers, as well as curriculum guides and other materials useful to the student, ’ says Margaret Ba- ker, director of the center. Much thought and careful consider- ation also goes into the selection of books for the juvenile collection, which is used by the children's and adolescent literature classes. Faculty are also encouraged to make requests for materials that are suitable for this particular collection. Selection is an on-going task leading to a well-balanced collection. 208 Seniors Graduates Textbook companies and publishers send gifts of demonstration materials. A large supply of floppy disks for computer classes has also been added. “A video-cassette module collection has been placed in the center through the auspices of the State Department of Edu- cation,’’ Baker said. A program sponsored by Polaroid Cor- poration and the American Library Asso- ciation now permits the free use of a Po- laroid Instamatic camera. Until September 1969, the Curriculum Materials Center was recognized as part of Frazar Memoral Library. Then the cen- ter was moved to Farrar Hall, the new edu- cation building, where a special area has been designed for it. The center continued under the admin- istration of Frazar Memorial Library until June 1972, when it became part of the College of Education. The Curriculum Materials Center is open four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 7:45 a.m. until 7 p.m. and on Friday from 7:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.