{"id":88327,"date":"2021-08-04T12:23:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T17:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/?p=88327"},"modified":"2021-08-11T12:50:50","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T17:50:50","slug":"mississippi-writers-trail-marker-unveiled-at-delta-state-in-honor-of-the-late-dorothy-shawhan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/news-and-events\/2021\/08\/mississippi-writers-trail-marker-unveiled-at-delta-state-in-honor-of-the-late-dorothy-shawhan\/","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi Writers Trail marker unveiled at Delta State in honor of the late Dorothy Shawhan"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]CLEVELAND, Miss.\u2014<\/strong>Through a wide variety of contributions, Dorothy Shawhan changed the landscape of Mississippi, Cleveland, and Delta State University. In her honor, the 10th marker featured as part of the Mississippi Writers Trail was unveiled on the campus of Delta State on Friday, July 23.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Writers Trail marker is situated in the southwest vicinity of Kethley Hall, where Shawhan served as a long-time professor and chair of the Division of Languages and Literature at Delta State.<\/p>\n

The marker\u2019s text was composed by Marion Blackburn, who worked with Shawhan at Delta State for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge to put a life well lived on a marker in 155 words, but it was a great honor to do so,\u201d said Blackburn.<\/p>\n

Family, friends and former colleagues of Shawhan filled the Wright Art Gallery for a special ceremony preceding the unveiling. During the event, campus and community members remembered Shawhan for the impact she had on Delta State and the community at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was outstanding in her profession, and she carried herself with dignity and grace,\u201d said Cleveland Mayor Billy Nowell. \u201cWhenever someone brought her name up, it would be a smile on everyone\u2019s face\u2014that\u2019s a real testament to the type of person she was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representing the Department of Languages and Literature during the ceremony was Shawhan\u2019s longtime friend and colleague Professor of English Emerita Susan Allen Ford.<\/p>\n

Ford remembered Shawhan as a prolific and generous storyteller\u2014not just on her front porch, but also in her biographies of Mississippi\u2019s Judge Lucy Somerville Howorth and Fannye Cook; her introduction to the life and art of the self-taught Cleveland artist Carolyn Norris; her novel, \u201cLizzie\u201d; and countless short stories.<\/p>\n

She also taught generations of Delta State students all kinds of writing\u2014including journalism and technical writing as well as the art of fiction and creative nonfiction, Ford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways a generous and supportive colleague and mentor, as chair Dorothy made a real impact on Delta State University, facilitating growth and energy and good will among members of a large and diverse division,\u201d said Ford. \u201cShe helped transform her students and the members of her Division, as John Ford often said, \u2018by somehow knowing and supplying the specific kind of support we needed.\u00a0 She helped us all be better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor of English Emerita Susan Allen Ford<\/p><\/div>\n

Shawhan began teaching at Delta State in 1981 and served as the chair of the Division of Languages and Literature from 1992 to 2006.\u00a0 Described as a \u201ccaring\u201d and \u201cstimulating\u201d teacher, Shawhan was honored with the Kossman Outstanding Teacher Award in 2006.<\/p>\n

Colleagues described Shawhan as a creative teacher who broke new ground for education in the Delta. In the 1980s, with her colleagues Barnwell and Elizabeth Sarcone, she created and taught a course on women\u2019s writing. In subsequent years, she was asked by the History Department to develop a course on women\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

In 1988, she and Barnwell co-founded the Delta State literary magazine \u201cTapestry\u201d to celebrate the creative and scholarly work of DSU faculty.<\/p>\n

Shawhan received a Humanities Teacher of the Year award from the Mississippi Humanities Council in 2004.<\/p>\n

Shawhan\u2019s influence was felt in many areas of life in the Delta and in the State of Mississippi.\u00a0 After her death, she was remembered with the Lucy Somerville Howorth Outstanding Woman of Achievement award\u2014joining luminaries such as Emma Lytle, Fannie Lou Hamer, Keith Dockery McLean, and Mae Bertha Carter.<\/p>\n

Describing Shawhan as a \u201cquiet leader\u201d during tenure as chair of the Division of Languages and Literature, former DSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Thornell said that\u00a0Shawhan had the unique ability to balance their individuality with the common good of the students and the university.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Former DSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Thornell<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cShe touched all of us with her intellect, her kindness, her compassion, her strength of character, her humor, her literary gifts, and her sense of humor,\u201d said Thornell. \u201cShe loved to laugh\u2026dark clouds turned into sunshine when you were around Dorothy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delta State Provost\/Vice President for Academic Affair Andy Nobovilski noted that while the marker is a great commemoration of Shawhan, perhaps even greater is the impact she left on her former students and colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the same way that we\u2019ll unveil a memorial for her,\u201d said Nobovilski, \u201cprofessors like Michael Smith said he still uses material that Shawhan shared with him in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it, in addition to the memorial, generations of Delta State students are going to benefit from Professor Shawhan\u2019s work, going forward now and for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mississippi Writers Marker and ceremony were made possible by the Mississippi Art Commission, Visit Mississippi, Visit Cleveland, and the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affair Andy Nobovilski gives remarks regarding Dorothy Shawhan’s legacy at Delta State.<\/p><\/div>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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