Signatures 184 total
-
1
Name: Jennifer Phelps on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
2
Name: Rodrigo Gonzalez on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth is a good and dedicated teacher and she should be kept as part of Naropa´s core faculty.Flag
-
3
Name: Travis Macdonald on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
4
Name: Lindsey Anderson on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Robinson is an amazing teacher. I took a few classes with her in Naropa's Summer Writing Program, and always really appriciated her creative class assignments feedback on my work. It would be an unfortunate loss for the entire Naropa community if her contract was not renewed.Flag
-
5
Name: Nicholas Ravnikar on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson served as faculty reader for critical and creative manuscript. Her close attention to my aims and interests, critical sensibilities and openness to interdisciplinary research I had conducted allowed me to broaden the scope and application of my poetics research. I cannot overemphasize the experiential value of my time studying with Elizabeth, nor would I be the writer and instructor that I am today without having had the pleasure of working with her. Dismissing Elizabeth Robinson would do a great disservice to future students who might avail of her varied creative and critical approaches.Flag
-
6
Name: Marie Larson on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
7
Name: Hillary Keel (Strohmeier) on Jan 26, 2010Comments: My week with Elizabeth Robinson at the SWP 2008 in her workshop Mystic Speech was most rewarding and fruitful in thought and in writing. I am greatly disappointed to hear of her dismissal as she works well with a variety of students. The workshop with her as well as her one-one-one feedback sessions and her graduate tutorial course were of great support to me as well as her lecture. I ask you to reconsider her dismissal.Flag
-
8
Name: Dawn Sueoka on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth was my SWP MFA discussion leader two years ago. She was thoughtful and attentive, and her guidance helped me understand and appreciate the material. I am also using her essay on beauty in my critical thesis, and I really appreciate her mindfulness in regard to this topic. She is such an asset to Naropa; I don't understand why her contract would not be renewed.Flag
-
9
Name: Ryan Clark on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is a wonderful poet and teacher of poets. The failure to renew her contract would be a tremendous loss to the Naropa community and the Jack Kerouac School, which has always been a place where burgeoning writers learn from outstanding writer-teachers such as Elizabeth.Flag
-
10
Name: Anonymous on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is not a faculty member who should be removed from Naropa! As a fiction writer, I often trivialized modern/contemporary poetry as "airy" or "annoying" and lacking any substantial content. Yet, Elizabeth not only changed my mind in this regard, she taught me to see poetry as an object capable of adding dimension and perspective to an often meaningless world. She brings an academic and creative edge to the writing program that only two other instructors or professors did for me while I attended the Creative Writing program. I do not say this lightly either. I had had strong biases towards contemporary poetry, which I often labeled as a sham job and much of it truly is, but she presented the best examples of several genres with unparalleled artistic insights and scholarly skills.Flag
-
11
Name: David Slatkin on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
12
Name: Diane Klammer on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is one of the best instructors that I have ever had at Naropa University or anywhere else, and I have been a student for quite some time holding a bachelors of science, two masters degrees and having studied at Naropa for four summers straight. I have met many of the faculty at Naropa and studied with many of them and they are a fine lot. Elizabeth is a fully knowledgeable academic in her field with impeccable credentials and she is compassionate and creative in her approach with her students. I have found her workshops to be a breath of fresh air. She believes in student empowerment, encouraging them to "claim their own authority by starting magazines and chapbooks in order to shape the community." She is both rigorous and holistic with students and is frankly down to earth for one so accomplished in her field. It would be a disgrace for Naropa to lose her in this way and reflect very badly on the University in my opinion.Flag
-
13
Name: Kris Hamilton (Miller) on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson brings so much to her classroom in terms of wisdom, creativity, ethics etc. She is an asset to Naropa, specifically to the Writing Department, and it would be a disservice to the student body to get rid of her. As an alumni it concerns me to see that Naropa is getting rid of a valuable asset. The assets Elizabeth brings to Naropa in terms of her poetic and academic achievements are what prospective students look at when determining whether or not they should attend a particular university. If Naropa continues to let go of the high achieving faculty members, it not only diminishes alumnus's degrees, but will deter future prospective students.Flag
-
14
Name: Sarah Suzor on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
15
Name: Susan Huser on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
16
Name: Shane Jimenez on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
17
Name: Kade Alexander Jensen on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
18
Name: LaVonne Natasha Caesar on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is an inspiration. This would break my heart.Flag
-
19
Name: Megan Donelson on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
20
Name: Brandon Arthur on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
21
Name: Mark DuCharme on Jan 26, 2010Comments: The notion of not renewing Elizabeth Robinson's contract is, frankly, absurd. She is a nationally renowned and award-winning poet, a beloved teacher, a supportive colleague and a quietly determined force for the poetry community both locally and nationally. Someone of her caliber should, by all rights, be on the core faculty track, rather than working as an adjunct. I have little doubt that a poet of Elizabeth's reputation is a "draw" for incoming students who may be considering the many other MFA programs out there. The decision is especially mind boggling since there are faculty in the department who foreseeably could retire in the coming years. Elizabeth is committed to the program and could be a major resource for the department for many years to come. This is, at best, a profoundly short-sighted decision. For the good of both the university and the department, I urge you to reconsider.Flag
-
22
Name: Jennifer Davis on Jan 26, 2010Comments:Flag
-
23
Name: Renee Zepeda on Jan 26, 2010Comments: Elizabeth is a wealth of knowledge and she always has interesting and new things to say about student poetry; I'm in her poetry workshop now and I'm truly enjoying it. I was hoping Elizabeth could be my thesis advisor in the fall, and this news comes as a disheartening shock. Naropa needs Elizabeth Robinson; her contract should be renewed!Flag
-
24
Name: Jeff Chester on Jan 27, 2010Comments: The loss of Elizabeth Robinson would affect a devastating blow to the Writing and Poetics Department at Naropa. While this decision may, in some people's minds, make sense in the short-term from a 'bottom-line' perspective, the long -term results would be no less than crippling to a department already limping toward the turnstiles of mediocrity.Flag
-
25
Name: Brendan Hamilton on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Taking a class taught by Elizabeth Robinson turned out to be one of the highlights of my experience at Naropa's MFA Writing & Poetics program. She is one of the most dedicated and engaging professors I've encountered at any level. Firing her would be worse than a "regrettable step;" it would be an outright travesty.Flag
-
26
Name: Michael Wendt on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
27
Name: Matthew Klane on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
28
Name: HSP on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Simply put--she's the best.Flag
-
29
Name: Nicholas Gulig on Jan 27, 2010Comments: While not a student at Naropa University, last semester Professor Robinson was a visiting professor at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop where I am currently finishing an MFA in poetry. She was my teacher, one of the most gifted and generous I've ever had, and I would like to formally offer her my support by signing this petition. Teachers of her caliber are rare, are necessary. Thank you.Flag
-
30
Name: Richard S Schwass on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
31
Name: Montreux Rotholtz on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Elizabeth is an extraordinary teacher and a caring mentor. She is a role model for women in poetry, and for anyone who wishes to excel in their craft. It is a grave mistake to let her go.Flag
-
32
Name: Bridget Talone on Jan 27, 2010Comments: elizabeth robinson is a gifted, passionate teacher. i was fortunate enough to attend her semester long seminar on "modernism & mysticism" at iowa in the fall of 2009. elizabeth's sense of poetry as exploration and conversation was immensely inspiring to me both in class as well as in my own creative work. she also makes herself an indispensable part of any artistic community--coming to student readings and scheduling individual conferences with poets. elizabeth was a generous and lively presence at iowa--and she is missed here. i hope that naropa university does all that it can to ensure that its creative community does not lose her.Flag
-
33
Name: Jane Wong on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Elizabeth is one of the most dedicated, innovative, intelligent, and encouraging teachers I know. While she was a visiting professor at the University of Iowa, she brought in a much needed forward thinking perspective on workshop. I was lucky enough to have had her as my workshop leader. Not only was Elizabeth an insightful reader, she made us feel as if we could take risks. Writing became active, alive, collaborative. I spent a summer at Naropa in 2007 (for the Summer Writing Program), and appreciated its environment of innovation and risk-taking. In order to keep this fruitful environment alive, Naropa needs Elizabeth! Thank you, Jane WongFlag
-
34
Name: Robert Fernandez on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
35
Name: Steven Toussaint on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is one of the most intelligent, compassionate, and dynamic individuals I have ever met. I am incredibly privileged to have been her student. Her dedication to my work and that of my peers has remained a priority for her. She sacrifices her time and energy to build a real community of writers, correspondents and friends that is truly generative. She is a gifted teacher and for Naropa to abandon her is a monumental mistake that must be remedied.Flag
-
36
Name: Anonymous on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
37
Name: Adam Perry on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
38
Name: Adam Roberts on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
39
Name: Jennifer Aglio on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
40
Name: Lori Martin on Jan 27, 2010Comments: I am a student at UI Writers' Workshop. Elizabeth Robinson was an absolutely fantastic teacher here and all her former students rave about her.Flag
-
41
Name: Elaine Kahn on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson is probably the finest teacher I have ever had. She is inspiring, rigorous, and incredibly generous. Her abilities as an educator make her an incredible asset that would greatly enhance any writing program. It is disappointing and distressing that Naropa is choosing to let go of this wonderful treasure of a human being.Flag
-
42
Name: Jordan Windholz on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
43
Name: Matthew Cooperman on Jan 27, 2010Comments: I am appalled at the idea that Elizabeth Robinson would be dismissed from Naropa University. As an English Professor at Colorado State University--and as the Director of Creative Writing--I would see this as an immeasurable loss to Naropa, not to mention the Front Range writing community. I have collaborated with Elizabeth variously, and consider her a great asset to the area. Given the colorful history of Naropa, and its accommodation of various non-traditional values, I find it hard to believe Elizabeth has not acted within any ethical bounds imaginable.Flag
-
44
Name: Joe Amato on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
45
Name: Sasha Steensen on Jan 27, 2010Comments: I've known of Elizabeth Robinson's work for nearly ten years, and when I moved to Colorado five years ago, I was thrilled to find out that Elizabeth is as generous a person as she is a poet. Her work is not only nationally but internationally known, and she brings recognition to Naropa University. In addition, I have talked with several of her previous students, one of whom is a MFA student at Colorado State University where i am currently a tenure-track faculty member, and I have heard nothing but praise for her teaching and for her dedication to her students. I urge you to renew her contract.Flag
-
46
Name: Matt Wise on Jan 27, 2010Comments: ... lucky if you get to keep her, after all this...Flag
-
47
Name: Alan Felsenthal on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
48
Name: Amanda Nadelberg on Jan 27, 2010Comments:Flag
-
49
Name: Susan Tepper on Jan 27, 2010Comments: I am an MFA student at Colorado State University. I know Elizabeth from the University of Colorado, where I did my undergraduate work. Elizabeth Robinson is an invaluable poetic presence in Colorado. Not only did our graduate workshop study her book "The Orphan and its Relations" last Fall, but she is super supportive of readings and literary events around Colorado. Naropa has an asset in Elizabeth Robinson and it would be unwise to lose her.Flag
-
50
Name: Katherine Thorpe on Jan 27, 2010Comments: Elizabeth Robinson was my teacher last semester at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop--she is one of the kindest, most generous, thoughtful, and truly inspired teachers I have ever had. Working with her was transformational. I only wish I could do more to support her.Flag