2008 Woodie Awards
Spotlight on...Michael Collier
Bri Cavallaro
Issue date: 3/16/06 Section: Arts
Visiting Professor of English Michael Collier is the director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (BLWC), teaches English at the University of Maryland, College Park and was named the Poet Laureate of Maryland in 2001. His books of poetry include The Ledge (2000), The Neighbor (1995), The Folded Heart (1989) and The Clasp and Other Poems (1986). Collier is also the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and NEA fellowships. Collier taught a poetry workshop at the college over Jterm and is currently teaching a modern poetry course.
The Middlebury Campus: What circumstances led you to Middlebury for the year? Just a specific interest in these courses?
Michael Collier: Well, I've had an association with the BLWC for over twelve years, and I've always wondered what it'd be like to be here over the wintertime - to teach here at the college - especially after I've had such wonderful students from Middlebury over the years. I've had lots of friends in this community, in the writing department, and it's wonderful to work with them.
TC: What differences, if any, do you find between Middlebury undergrads and other undergrad and grad students you've worked with?
MC: Maryland's a public university, and the range of students is much broader. It's much more difficult to get into Middlebury, and so the students are kind of higher-end than they are at Maryland. The students here also have a familiarity with literature that a good sixty percent of the students at Maryland don't. The curiosity level is about the same. At Maryland, there is just a wider spectrum. Graduate students are quite different - they come from all over the country and they've done really well wherever they've been as undergrads. We actually have a Middlebury grad studying poetry right now [at Maryland]. In this Modern Poetry class I'm teaching, students are much more active in discussion. There are plenty of opinions and there is a kind of eagerness. I think it has to do with the fact that most Midd students were the best in their class and were used to talking, that they've developed a habit of participation. It's great. It's fun. We get to penetrate more deeply into what we're talking about. Almost everyone is working at the same level.
The Middlebury Campus: What circumstances led you to Middlebury for the year? Just a specific interest in these courses?
Michael Collier: Well, I've had an association with the BLWC for over twelve years, and I've always wondered what it'd be like to be here over the wintertime - to teach here at the college - especially after I've had such wonderful students from Middlebury over the years. I've had lots of friends in this community, in the writing department, and it's wonderful to work with them.
TC: What differences, if any, do you find between Middlebury undergrads and other undergrad and grad students you've worked with?
MC: Maryland's a public university, and the range of students is much broader. It's much more difficult to get into Middlebury, and so the students are kind of higher-end than they are at Maryland. The students here also have a familiarity with literature that a good sixty percent of the students at Maryland don't. The curiosity level is about the same. At Maryland, there is just a wider spectrum. Graduate students are quite different - they come from all over the country and they've done really well wherever they've been as undergrads. We actually have a Middlebury grad studying poetry right now [at Maryland]. In this Modern Poetry class I'm teaching, students are much more active in discussion. There are plenty of opinions and there is a kind of eagerness. I think it has to do with the fact that most Midd students were the best in their class and were used to talking, that they've developed a habit of participation. It's great. It's fun. We get to penetrate more deeply into what we're talking about. Almost everyone is working at the same level.