The event featured the best literary and visual art produced by members of the campus community during the past year. It also celebrated the arts with a live performance from the Campus Choir, directed by Doretta Whalen, adjunct instructor in music. The ninth annual Chancellor?s Prizes for the Best Literary and Visual Art was awarded by Nancy Herron, interim chancellor.
Complementary copies of this year's issue, Volume 16, were available in print for the first time, featuring twenty pages of full-color art and a special section dedicated to this year?s Teaching International themes, Canada and global health (edited by Chuck Taylor, associate editor).
Published by the student-operated Penn State Greater Allegheny Press, ABSENCE is a high-quality literary and visual arts review for the campus and surrounding community. The review?s goal is to provide all full- and part-time students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a shared venue for their creative endeavors, and to generate interest in the arts. ABSENCE also prepares students for careers in academia, publishing & journalism, and document design -- both paper and digital -- while offering opportunities for students to earn Penn State credit for editorial work. Several student editors have gone on to careers in publishing and academia.
?The students on the ABSENCE editorial staff work hard each year to produce a professional-quality publication. This year is no exception. The art is beautiful, and this is a wonderful opportunity for the visual and literary artists to have their work on permanent display,? said Clifford Manlove, associate professor of English and ABSENCE faculty adviser since 2002. ?At the reception, everyone is able to relax and enjoy the talents of their fellow artists.?
The student editors, led by Editor-in-Chief Tim Tolbert, invited faculty, staff, students, and alums of the campus to submit their poetry, short fiction & nonfiction, essays, photography, visual art, etc. for consideration for Volume 16. A ?blind submission? process is used by the student editorial board to evaluate each work. All student submissions were eligible for consideration for the Chancellor?s Prizes, which were established in 2006 by then-Chancellor Curtiss Porter, to promote the growth of an active creative community in and around Penn State Greater Allegheny.
