The write choice

A UVic poet wins the university's top faculty award

by Lynda Hills

Crozier

"It might have all happened because my Grade 1 teacher gave me a pat on the head and said I could write a good poem," says writing professor Lorna Crozier of her newest honour—UVic Distinguished Professor.

The five-year award is bestowed on a faculty member who has achieved distinction in teaching and scholarly research and has made substantial contributions to the university and the wider community. Each recipient receives a salary stipend and annual research allowance.

"UVic is truly fortunate to have such an extraordinary talent as Lorna's," says Jamie Cassels, vice-president academic. "Her performance in the classroom and in the literary field serves as inspiration not only to her students and colleagues, but also to a new generation of poets and writers."

"Lorna is an outstanding teacher and with a well-established international reputation in research excellence and innovation," says Dr. Giles Hogya, dean of fine arts. "This award is a natural progression of Lorna's excellence within the academic community and we salute her."

Crozier, a native of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, earned a BA in English and psychology from the University of Saskatchewan and an MA from the University of Alberta. She started her career teaching high school English. While teaching and "trying to instil the love of language in students," she began to write.

Poetry allows insights into the primal experiences of what it means to be human, says Crozier. "There are few other ways we have of charting the human heart. The poem fascinates me so much because there is a tension there all the time. What you want to say resists words, and yet you say it anyway."

Crozier joined UVic in 1991 and is currently chair of the writing department. She continues to make significant contributions to the university and wider community. Crozier was commissioned by CBC radio to write the eulogy for Pierre Elliot Trudeau, as well as a poem to celebrate the Canadians women's hockey team at the Olympics. Crozier also travels globally, presenting workshops and reading her poetry.

Crozier's work has been translated into a number of languages and garnered many awards. These include: the Dorothy Livesay Award for What the Living Won't Let Go in 2000; the Pat Lowther Award for the best book of poetry by a Canadian woman in 1996 for Everything Arrives at the Light; and the 1992 Governor General's Award for the best book of Canadian poetry for Inventing the Hawk.

Crozier's new collection of poetry, called Whetstone, is due out in spring 2005. She has just completed final editing of the first book in a scholarly series about Canadian poetry, featuring her poems. Her next project is a book about the landscape of home—a collection of essays interspersed with poetry.

For her contributions to Canadian literature, Crozier recently received an honorary degree from the University of Regina.

Crozier says she's humbled at receiving the Distinguished Professor award. "There are really hundreds of distinguished professors on this campus," she says. "To be one among several to receive this award is a great honour because it's not only about what I've written and my potential. It's also about my teaching and other contributions I've made to the department."

Crozier is also pleased that the award was given to a creative artist because she feels writers haven't always been welcomed in Canadian universities. "That's not the case here," she says. "Writers at UVic have been made to feel they are an important part of the institution, that our work is as valid as the work of a scientist or a business professor."

Distinguished professors are nominated by their faculty. The final selection is made by the vice president academic.

No more than three per cent of UVic regular faculty members can hold Distinguished Professorships at any time, and the positions will be distributed among all faculties at the university.