Undergraduate Admissions

Berwyn Moore, associate professor of English at Gannon University, has been named the first ever Poet Laureate for Erie County.

The official announcement was made during a Sept. 9 press conference at the Raymond M. Blasco Memorial Library.

In addition to being named Poet Laureate, Moore will receive a $10,000 grant to fund a project; she plans to compile an anthology of poems and art by Erie County residents.

Moore, an accomplished poet, has had her works published widely in national journals and in two books. She also has promoted poetry at Gannon University and within the Erie community.

Her many honors include a second-place award in a national poetry contest sponsored by The Pinch, a prestigious literary journal published by the University of Memphis. Her submission to the contest, “Pins and Needles,” uses the imagery of pins and needles to explore issues of identity, in particular an identity in the context of illness. Moore completed the poem in December, 2008.

In addition to her faculty position in the Gannon University English Department, Moore since 1987 has served as the advisor to the Totem, Gannon’s student-produced literary-art journal. The Totem has been chosen for 13 consecutive first place awards in the American Scholastic Press Association’s national contest for college literary magazines.

Moore also has coordinated Gannon’s annual poetry contests, one for the University’s undergraduate and graduate students, and one for high school students. This year, high school students in 24 states submitted more than 600 poems to the contest. In addition, she oversees the Gannon University English Department’s annual Awards Night, held in April.