ABSENCE: Penn State Greater Allegheny's Literary & Art Magazine announces its Spring, 2009 ?Celebration of the Arts: A Reading & Reception for the 2009 Edition,? featuring the work of each year?s authors and artists. The event will also celebrate the arts, with live performances that include: live music, excerpts from the Spring play, screening of short films, and the presentation of the Fourth Annual Chancellor?s Prizes for the Best Literary & Visual Arts by Dr. Curtiss Porter, PSUGA Chancellor. All faculty, staff, and students of the campus community are invited to attend; the event is free and open to the public. This event will be held on Wednesday, April 22, at 7:00 p.m. in the Ostermayer Room in the Student Community Center on the Greater Allegheny Campus. The magazine, in its eleventh year of publication by the Penn State Greater Allegheny English department, is an annual publication which showcases campus talent. Copies of Volume Eleven will be available for the first time at this event.
The mission of Absence is the annual publication of a high-quality literary and arts magazine for the Penn State Greater Allegheny community. The magazine?s goal is to provide all full- and part-time PSUGA students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a shared venue for their creative endeavors, and to generate interest in the arts in the Greater Allegheny community. The magazine also provides students the professional opportunity to prepare for careers in publishing and document design.
Dr. Clifford Manlove, Associate Professor of English, and Lori Hepner, Assistant Professor of Integrative Arts, Absence faculty advisers, invited faculty, staff, students, and alums of the campus to submit their poetry, short fiction & non-fiction, essays, photography, visual art, etc. for consideration. A ?blind submission? process was used by the student editorial board to evaluate each work. 262 submissions were received, more than any previous year; less than 30% of submitted work was accepted for publication.
All Absence submissions were eligible for consideration for the Fourth Annual Chancellor?s Prizes. Two student winners for the Best Literary and the Best Visual Arts submissions will each earn $250 scholarships. Two second-place winners will each receive $100 scholarships. This year, for the first time, a fifth Chancellor?s Prize scholarship of $250 will be awarded for the best video art, which will be screened at the upcoming ?Celebration of the Arts? event. The Chancellor?s Prizes were established in 2006 to promote the growth of an active creative community in and around Penn State Greater Allegheny.
The student editorial board and faculty advisers reviewed submissions; final decisions about publication rested with the student Editor-in-Chief, Keith Donnelly. The publication is supported by: the Chancellor's office, Academic Affairs, Institutional Advancement, Admissions, Continuing Education, the Student Activity Fee, and Student Affairs.