Writers Series Endowed Funds
The Writers Series is pleased to offer two endowed readings and one contest as part of the annual slate of visiting authors and programs. The February reading highlights the current Viebranz Visiting Professor of Creative Writing. The April poetry reading is sponsored by the Sandra Nelson Memorial Poetry Fund. Each year, the Sandra Nelson Poet is also tasked with judging the annual James Ligon Price III Memorial Prize in Poetry.
By endowing people, programs, and facilities, we will position St. Lawrence for future generations of teaching, learning, and discovery.
Alfred C. Viebranz ’42 Endowment for Creative Writing
St. Lawrence University is honored to host the Viebranz Visiting Professor of Creative Writing as a member of its English department faculty each year. Established in 1999, the position is funded by a gift from Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg, as a tribute to the friendship, respect, and mutual admiration between them, and in recognition of "the elements of creativity, high standards, and humor that characterize the Viebranz approach to writing and life."
The Viebranz professor teaches two genre-specific courses each semester and is an active participant in the English Department. Departmental activities include giving a reading as part of the St. Lawrence University Writers Series and hosting informal salons for faculty and students in their home for the year, the Kohlberg House on Elm Street. The house was purchased with a gift from Al and Elaine Viebranz and named in honor of their friend, Jerome Kohlberg.
Sandra Nelson Memorial Poetry Endowment Fund
A poetry reading fund established in loving memory of Sandra through the generosity of John and Ann Nelson, parents of Sandra Nelson, Class of 1962, and Sandra's niece, Christina Wehle.
Sandra was born in Buffalo, New York. She graduated from Amherst Central High School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University. She received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, where she also studied creative writing with the late Allen Tate. After completing her studies, Sandra moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, where she was a faculty member in the English department at the University of New Brunswick. Sandra is the author of five volumes of poetry.
The Sandra Nelson Memorial Poetry Endowment Fund provides income to bring a poet to campus each year to read from his/her works. In April of each year, the St. Lawrence University Writers Series hosts the Sandra Nelson Poetry Reading.
James Ligon Price III Memorial Prize in Poetry
The prize was established in memory of Dr. Price by family, friends, and colleagues after he passed away on October 11, 1976. He joined the English Department at St. Lawrence University in 1974. Dr. Price graduated from Yale, specialized in comparative literature, was interested in the Romantics, and was a poet. An annual contest is held on campus in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize Program. The contest is judged annually by the Sandra Nelson Poet. From a 1982 Hill News article “the contest is in memory of James L. Price, a well-respected English professor who died in 1976 when his motorcycle was hit by a train. Since Price had been a poet himself, the English Department decided to permanently endow the poetry contest which Dr. Piskor had started a few years earlier. The funds for this endowment come from donations received by family and friends of Price.”