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CENTER FOR ROBERT PENN WARREN STUDIES Mary Ellen Miller, Coordinator of the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies, is professor of English at Western Kentucky University. Her primary teaching responsibilities are creative writing, contemporary literature, women's studies, and American Literature. She is Coordinator of the Robert Penn Warren Center; a member of the Women's Studies Steering Committee; a member of the Creative Writing Committee. She is co-founder of the Canadian Studies program and a past member of same. In addition, she is a two-term faculty representative on the Board of Regents of Western Kentucky University. She serves as Liaison between the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies and the Robert Penn Warren Advisory Group. Her poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in various journals and anthologies. |
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The activities of the Center fall into three major functions--education, research, and celebration. The Center's educational purpose is to increase awareness of Warren's life and work and of the values which inform them both. The Center houses personal items of Robert Penn Warren, and the items are on display to the public. The most valuable items and 2400 books from Warren's personal library are in the Warren Collection located in the Kentucky Museum Building on the Western Kentucky University Campus. Connie Mills, Director of Special Collections, is in charge of this collection. The Warren Center coordinates the Warren Library, collects Warren interviews, and catalogues popular culture treatments of the author's works, such as film or television productions. The Center also collects materials focused on Warren country, including family memorabilia, private letters, local reminiscences, and cultural or historical material associated with the region. The Robert Penn Warren Advisory Group, distinguished individuals from across the nation, provides valuable recommendations. Mary Ellen Miller is Liaison with the Advisory Group. The Robert Penn Warren Center Committee has the responsibility for planning, directing, and securing resources to support ongoing programs. With the cooperation of these groups, the Center for Robert Penn Warren Studies realizes its purpose― celebrating the life and work of modern America's greatest man-of-letters. Each year in April, close to the birth date of Robert Penn Warren, the Center together with the Warren Circle, holds a three-day conference and Warren Symposium. The Center conducts one fundraising event annually, a brunch at the April Symposium. Donations are accepted anytime but brunch reservations must be made by April 1. Send to Professor Mary Ellen Miller, One Big Red Way, Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101-3576. Cost is thirty($30) dollars. The Advisory Group offers an annual prize for a critical work. Past winners of the Warren-Brooks Award are: Lewis P. Simpson Mark Royden Winchell John Hollander Denis Donoghue Ronald Schuchard. Sir Frank Kermode Paul V. Murphy Stephen Burt
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