Kenneth McClane, Cornell alum, poet and the W.E.B. Dubois Professor of Literature, kicks off the Soup and Hope 2009 series. Ken, A prolific author and recipient of multiple teaching awards, has taught English and creative writing at Cornell for over 30 years. He is author of seven poetry collections, including "Out Beyond the Bay," "Moons and Low Times," "At Winter's End" and "A Tree Beyond Telling: Poems Selected and New."

Beyond the borders of Cornell University, Ken has served on the Board of Directors of the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts for nine years and was also a member of the Tompkins County Library Foundation. He was also a Founding Board member of the Tompkins Country Community Foundation. He served on the Board of Trustees of Adelphi University for six years, chairing the Academic Affairs Committee that was responsible for the hiring of over 170 tenure-track faculty during his term, in the largest expansion of a university faculty in recent history. Ken is also on the Board of the Spirituals Project in Colorado and the NIA Collective in Indianapolis. The NIA Collective sponsors film projects—He is particularly proud of a documentary made in 2007 about Margaret Walker Alexander, a Mississippi African American poet.

McClane's riveting delivery ignites passion, creativity and courage in his audience. Those exposed to his distinctive mix of feeling and words do not forget him.

For a more expanded profile, see this article published in the Cornell Chronicle.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/3.3.05/McClane_profile.html Back->

Guest Musician:

Christopher Morgan Loy, Composer-pianist, has a catalog of compositions which includes works for piano, voice, chamber ensembles, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, and chorus. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1993.

Since the 1980’s Loy has received over 25 commissions from members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, the Sage Chapel Choir of Cornell University in Ithaca, individuals and professional musicians.