John Getz Poetry Scholarship
JOHN GETZ
Professor Emeritus, English Department
After more than forty years as the Department's specialist in nineteenth-century American literature, John Getz retired from fulltime teaching in December, 2014. Through May, 2017, he continued to teach one of his favorite courses, Literature and Moral Imagination, for the Ethics/Religion and Society Focus the University core. In the 1980s, John helped develop Xavier's Peace Studies Minor and served as the first Chair of the Peace Studies Committee that oversees the program. His past research includes articles on Edith Wharton and Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Sherwood Anderson, Ursula Le Guin, and Leslie Marmon Silko. In retirement John continues his research on the intersections of literature and peace studies and, with his wife Jo Anne has presented papers and led a workshop on humor as a tool for coping with cancer. He also volunteers as a docent, discussion leader, and 19th-century literature consultant at the Harriet Beecher Stowe House near Xavier.
This award is given to a female English major finishing her junior year who is accomplished as a poet or in criticism of poetry. The John Getz Poetry Scholarship is possible due to the generous donation of Nancy Jones, '76.
Immediately upon completion of her degree at Xavier, Nancy was hired by Milford High School to teach juniors American Literature and sophomores Literature and Composition. Ultimately, she used her degree in English to launch a rewarding career in Public Relations and Marketing.
Nancy named the first Internet Service Provider in the Tri-State area, FUSE, which still serves SW Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Indiana. She introduced the first digital telecommunications and many of the custom calling features in the Tri-State area. She won a graduate teaching assistantship to teach news editing and magazine editing production at Ohio University. She also worked at SAVVY, the first women’s professional business magazine in New York City and she wrote Above the 37TH Parallel, a play about love, life and living with Multiple Sclerosis.
Selected Poems by Nancy Jones:
LEGACY
I hear
my mother’s voice
every time
I open the yellow
recipe box
full of her handwriting
her smudges
of butter, flour, Campbell’s soup
“nothing like a good casserole”
warm, comforting
full of mother’s love
scribbled hastily
or clipped from
newspapers, magazines
compliments
of friends, neighbors, relatives
tucked away in
this box
legacy of love
PERSPECTIVE
I have never
wanted to climb
a mountain
fly a plane
live in New York
or
scuba dive.
I did want
to travel
love deeply
raise a family
and
write a play.
I did
live in New York
and
some dreams
are
small enough.