"Sigma Tau Delta (Chapter of National English Honor Society) is becoming a very active organization," says Dr. Mae Miller-Claxton, advisor to Sigma Tau Delta. In conjunction with the English Department they plan activities, cookouts, bowling trips, and poetry slams. They also work enthusiastically to recruit new majors.

The English Department sponsors the Visiting Writers Series, "bringing a variety of culturally and racially diverse writers of national and international reputations to this rural region." Some events for the year are:

• Real Live Poets: dramatization of selected poetic material as seen on MTV
• Poetry Slams: gathering of faculty and students reading original materials
• Carolyn Chute: author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine, real-life literature and more
• Colleen McElroy: African -American poet, essayist, and novelist
• Leslie Marmon Silko: Native American writer of Almanac of the Dead and more

These events, along with many others, are open to everyone. Through these and other events, English teachers strive to provide students with diverse opportunities to express and explore the worlds of literature and writing. For more information about the Visiting Writers Series, visit its web site.

Students in the Department of English have produced The NOMAD for at least 30 years. The NOMAD is a literary publication containing poetry, fiction, and art created by students WCU.

Faculty Steve Eberly and Newton Smith have both served as President of the Appalachian Writers Association. For the last several summers, students have been able to attend its annual conference right here at WCU.