Contact: Jack Bailey (304) 766-4109
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Dr. Robert M. Wallace has been named to the Board of Directors of the Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia.
Wallace began his three-year term on the board July 1, 2018.
“I am excited by the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors of the Clay Center, the premiere performing arts venue in the state of West Virginia,” Wallace said. “West Virginia State University has a strong tradition in the arts and I look forward to sharing that perspective with the board, while also looking for ways in which the University and the Clay Center can work together.”
Wallace is a Professor of English at WVSU, where he currently serves as the Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Humanities. Prior to that he served as Chair of the WVSU Department of English. He has taught at WVSU since 2004.
Wallace has published academic articles in English Education, English Leadership Quarterly, and other places, and he has presented at national conferences, specifically on what motivates young people to read and write, as well as on how to respond to student writing. He has also published poems and stories in many regional and national journals. Recently, some of his poems were translated into Spanish and published in Encuentros at La Universidad Autonoma Del Caribe. A full collection of his poetry, “Hawk on a Power Line,” was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2015.
Some awards and honors received by Wallace include an Academy of American Poets Prize; a West Virginia Humanities Council grant; the nomination of his poem “Bunting” in 2016 for a Pushcart Prize; a nomination for Developmental Instructor of the Year by the West Virginia Association for Development Education in 2015; and the Retention Connection Award by WVSU in 2014.
Wallace earned his doctorate in composition and TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature from Pfeiffer College.
Wallace resides in Charleston, W.Va., with his wife, Cathy. The couple has two daughters, Rachel and Claire. The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia opened on July 12, 2003. The Center, a 240,000-square-foot structure, houses performing arts, visual arts and sciences under one roof – one of the few of its kind in the country. Located in the state’s capital city of Charleston, the facility is home to the Clay Center’s Avampato Discovery Museum, the Juliet Art Museum and the Maier Foundation Performance Hall, home of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. For more information, visit .
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