Renowned Poet to Speak at U of I Commencement

CONTACT: Cynthia Sequin(317) 788-3583[email protected]

Renowned poet to speak at U of I commencement

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Acclaimed poet Alice Friman will be the keynote speaker at the 97th University of Indianapolis Commencement Ceremony, slated for Saturday, May 4, at 2 p.m. in Nicoson Hall. Friman, who taught at the university for more than 20 years, will be presented with an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from U of I President Jerry Israel during the ceremony.

"Since this year marks our university's centennial celebration, it seemed fitting that we would ask an esteemed retired member of our faculty to address our students," said Israel. "We were very happy when Alice accepted our invitation."

Friman taught English at the university from 1971 to 1993 and was named the 1993 U of I Teacher of the Year. In 1987, she received a teaching award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education in Washington, D.C. She has published seven collections of poetry, most recently Inverted Fire, from the BkMk Press of the University of Missouri in Kansas City, and Zoo, from the University of Arkansas Press, which won both Truman State University's Ezra Pound Poetry Award and the New England Poetry Club's Sheila Margaret Motton Prize.

Individual poems by Friman appear in such prestigious American literary magazines as Poetry, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Ohio Review and The Gettysburg Review, as well as the British magazines Poetry Review and London Review of Books. Her poems appear in anthologies from St. Martin's, Prentice-Hall, Longman, Beacon Press, the University of Minnesota Press and the University of Iowa Press.

The Indianapolis resident has received fellowships from the Indiana Arts Council and the Arts Council of Indianapolis, been invited to teach at Curtin University in Australia, and had residences at such artist colonies as Yaddo and the Millay Colony. Among her numerous awards are three prizes from the Poetry Society of America and the 2001 James Boatwright Prize for Poetry from Shenandoah.

"I was just very, very pleased," she said of presenting the commencement address for U of I.

The U of I commencement will award more than 800 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in the arts, sciences, business, education, nursing and health sciences. The University of Indianapolis is a private, comprehensive institution of higher education celebrating its centennial this year. It was founded in 1902 by what is now the United Methodist Church. Its 4,000 students come from around the world to major in nearly 70 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. The university's motto of "Education for Service" emphasizes the development of ethical and moral values and their application in every career.

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