In a career that’s included honors ranging from the Order of Freedom Medal by the President of Slovenia and multiple inclusions in The Best American Poems, Dr. Richard Jackson, UT National Alumni Association Distinguished Service Professor of English, has another one to add to his list. He was among five area writers recently inducted into the East Tennessee Writer’s Hall of Fame by Friends of Literacy.
Dr. Jackson teaches creative writing, poetry, and humanities in UTC’s interdisciplinary honors program. He is the author of ten books of poems including Resonance, Half Lives: Petrarchan Poems, and Unauthorized Autobiography: New and Selected Poems. His work has been translated into fifteen languages and has appeared in The Best American Poems, among other collections.
“My colleagues and I are very proud of Dr. Jackson’s accomplishments, this most recent award included," said Dr. Joe Wilferth, head of the UTC Department of English. "Over the years, he has been awarded numerous fellowships, including Guggenheim, Fulbright, Witter-Bynner, NEA, and NEH—and his poetry is widely recognized and celebrated. He’s a tremendous teacher, one whom students actively seek out, as he is likewise a talented poet and a fine colleague. I’m grateful to have him among our faculty."
Friends of Literacy provides free high quality literacy and GED classes to adults in Knox County who are inadequately educated for the challenges of daily life.