The Department bids a fond farewell to Professor Bruce Beasley, who is retiring after 31 years at Western.
Known for his broad smile, infectious chuckle and passionate love for poetry, Bruce taught an extraordinarily wide range of courses in poetry and poetics at Western, including such curricular innovations as Slam and Spoken Word Poetries and Poetry and the Work of Dreams. For many years he co-taught “Monsters,” a popular and interdisciplinary GUR course with Thor Hansen from Geology on the literature, mythology, and science of the monstrous. Beasley won WWU’s 2013 Peter J. Elich Excellence in Teaching Award.
“Bruce Beasley is a beloved poet and teacher at Western and in the field at large, and students have always clamored to get into his classes,” notes English Department Chair Kelly Magee. “Students, to put it simply, love Bruce. His teaching is known throughout the department as some of the best in the university. Indeed, students rave about his classes, telling stories about how they performed in poetry slams and the gentle way that Bruce encouraged them to take risks, volunteer ideas, and even take opposing viewpoints with ease and compassion. His strong presence as part of the creative writing program can’t be overstated, as well, especially the tenacity with which he has worked to improve that program for students and for his colleagues. Bruce’s practical and inclusive positions have strongly influenced our department for the better, and he will be greatly missed!”
Born and raised in Georgia, Professor Beasley graduated from Oberlin College (B.A. in English, 1980), Columbia University (M.F.A. in poetry, 1982), and the University of Virginia (Ph.d. in American literature, 1993). He is the author of nine collections of poems, including most recently Prayershreds, just published in May 2023 by Orison Books, and All Soul Parts Returned and Theophobia (both from BOA Editions).
Professor Beasley’s books have won three national competitions: the Ohio State University Press/Journal Award for The Creation; the Colorado Prize for Poetry for Summer Mystagogia; and the University of Georgia Press Contemporary Poetry Series Award for Lord Brain. His work has appeared widely in such journals as Kenyon Review, Gettysburg Review, Poetry, New American Writing, and Yale Review. He has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Artist Trust, and three Pushcart prizes. His work appears in The Pushcart Book of Poetry: The Best Poems from the Pushcart Prize and many other anthologies. His work draws widely on theology, philosophy, cosmology, neuroscience, dreams and dream theory, and visual arts.
More information on Bruce and his writing can be found at his website, Brucebeasley.net
