Creative writing program receives land donation
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The Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing and the environment can now offer its students some hands-on interaction with land, after an area of land was donated to the English department.
“Our program has a particular interest in space, and in particular, wild space,” said Steve Pett, associate professor of English and coordinator of the creative writing program in the English department.
Everett Casey, a lawyer in Ferndale, Mich., and an ISU alumnus, donated some money to the English department for scholarships in rhetoric and professional communication.
Casey took an especially inspiring writing class at Iowa State with a professor named Richard G. Wendell, said Charlie Kostelnick, professor and chair of the English department.
Pett said Casey credits that class as a foundation for his success, helping him to communicate articulately throughout his career.
After Casey’s first donation was established in the English department, Pett and others in the department teamed up with ISU Foundation to discuss a possible land donation with Casey.
“He wanted to do something to try to preserve this land,” Pett said.
The piece of land Casey eventually gave the English department is located near Boone, south of Don Williams County Park.
Kostelnick said 16 acres of the land is tillable, and the rest of it is a wooded area, with Bluff Creek passing through it.
“The creative writing program emphasizes the environment, and they really wanted to have some outdoor place that was wild, that they could do some field work in and maybe gather in to have readings and do some activities,” Kostelnick said.
The alternative locations to this piece of land, Kostelnick said, were further away from Ames and not as practical for these kinds of uses.
Pett said the department is considering introducing native prairie grasses to the land, and they also would like to eventually use the tillable land for a community-supported agriculture farm.
“There are a lot of ways to recover the health of the habitat,” Pett said.
Although the English department as a whole owns the deed to the property, it is meant to be used especially by the graduate students in the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing and the environment.
This property, Pett said, will be a venue for students to engage a place in a very sophisticated, intimate way. They will be able to interact with it, he said — see it, smell it, hear it and share in the effort to rehabilitate it in a responsible way.
Pett said the department envisions a building on the property, which Casey approved. However, a building is several steps down the road. A septic system would need to be installed, for one, Pett said.
The department would also need additional funds to build a structure on the property, Kostelnick said. It is renting out the tillable land to a farmer for the time being, and that money will help them at least set up a parking area, he said. The deed to the property was officially transferred to the English department on Dec. 30, 2008, after a series of approvals from the university and the Board of Regents.
“We’re just really thrilled that Everett Casey made this gift,” Kostelnick said.
The center will be called the Everett Casey Nature Center and Reserve.
“He really wanted this place to remain wild, in its natural state,” Kostelnick said. “We were happy to oblige him and assure him that was our intent as well.”
“Our program has a particular interest in space, and in particular, wild space,” said Steve Pett, associate professor of English and coordinator of the creative writing program in the English department.
Everett Casey, a lawyer in Ferndale, Mich., and an ISU alumnus, donated some money to the English department for scholarships in rhetoric and professional communication.
Casey took an especially inspiring writing class at Iowa State with a professor named Richard G. Wendell, said Charlie Kostelnick, professor and chair of the English department.
Pett said Casey credits that class as a foundation for his success, helping him to communicate articulately throughout his career.
After Casey’s first donation was established in the English department, Pett and others in the department teamed up with ISU Foundation to discuss a possible land donation with Casey.
“He wanted to do something to try to preserve this land,” Pett said.
The piece of land Casey eventually gave the English department is located near Boone, south of Don Williams County Park.
Kostelnick said 16 acres of the land is tillable, and the rest of it is a wooded area, with Bluff Creek passing through it.
“The creative writing program emphasizes the environment, and they really wanted to have some outdoor place that was wild, that they could do some field work in and maybe gather in to have readings and do some activities,” Kostelnick said.
The alternative locations to this piece of land, Kostelnick said, were further away from Ames and not as practical for these kinds of uses.
Pett said the department is considering introducing native prairie grasses to the land, and they also would like to eventually use the tillable land for a community-supported agriculture farm.
“There are a lot of ways to recover the health of the habitat,” Pett said.
Although the English department as a whole owns the deed to the property, it is meant to be used especially by the graduate students in the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing and the environment.
This property, Pett said, will be a venue for students to engage a place in a very sophisticated, intimate way. They will be able to interact with it, he said — see it, smell it, hear it and share in the effort to rehabilitate it in a responsible way.
Pett said the department envisions a building on the property, which Casey approved. However, a building is several steps down the road. A septic system would need to be installed, for one, Pett said.
The department would also need additional funds to build a structure on the property, Kostelnick said. It is renting out the tillable land to a farmer for the time being, and that money will help them at least set up a parking area, he said. The deed to the property was officially transferred to the English department on Dec. 30, 2008, after a series of approvals from the university and the Board of Regents.
“We’re just really thrilled that Everett Casey made this gift,” Kostelnick said.
The center will be called the Everett Casey Nature Center and Reserve.
“He really wanted this place to remain wild, in its natural state,” Kostelnick said. “We were happy to oblige him and assure him that was our intent as well.”
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