STUDENT AWARDS MAJOR HAPPENINGS GRADUATE STUDENTS FACULTY NEWS COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS LIT CORNER “He was exactly the kind of writer I
wanted to
be—someone who
had completely given himself to the art. I’d consider myself
lucky
if I were half the inspiration to my students that Ian was to me and
to many others in Hawaii.” —Samrat
Upadhyay, award-winning author and associate director of Creative
Writing at Indiana
During
his forty
years as a professor of English, IAN MACMILLAN has brought honor to
the department, the university, and the state of Hawai'i by virtue of
his contributions to the arts. As a fiction writer, he has authored
seven novels and four short story collections and has made more than
a 100 appearances in literary and commercial magazines. He
continues
to be remarkably prolific, and his works have frequently been honored
for literary excellence. Surely Ian's extraordinary record of
publication and recognition is well known to everyone in our
department. The inclusion of his stories in prize anthologies, his
O. Henry Award, and his Pen-USA-West Award in Fiction are only a few
examples of his many literary accomplishments. Over
a five-year
period, Ian either chaired or served on over twenty MA thesis or
dissertation committees. During the same five-year period, he
chaired or served on a dozen undergraduate honors committees. For
two years, he has been meeting regularly with small groups of
students—undergraduates, MAs, and doctoral students, all
registered
for directed readings—for intensive writing instruction. He
receives no additional compensation for these "mini-courses,"
for reading and evaluating up to three dozen manuscripts and offering
approximately thirty extra hours of direct instruction per semester. The
Council also
learned about the impact Ian has made on many award-winning alumni of
our Creative Writing program. Chris McKinney, author of three novels
including THE TATTOO described Ian as "the most stand-up
professor I've ever had. I have been out of school for seven years,
but I know that if I asked him to look at a manuscript, he’d
do
it." Nora Okja Keller, author of COMFORT WOMAN, expressed her
gratitude for having been "one of
the
fledgling writers that Ian Macmillan fostered during his four-decade
teaching career. In his seminars, he engenders a feeling of
community, a sense that every student is a worthy participant." Mark
Panek and Robert Barclay have gone on from our programs to teach at
UH-Hilo and Windward (respectively) and to publish book-length
biography and fiction. "I remember him commenting on a
descriptive passage as vivid and precise," Robert recalled of
his first course with Ian, "and that was all the encouragement I
needed to write another story."As
I plan to teach my first creative writing courses," Mark wrote,
"I find myself thinking back to Ian’s unassuming way of
demanding the highest levels of seriousness from rooms full of
college students who came in thinking that 'creative' meant 'easy.' If
I someday become such a teacher, it will be due largely to the
example Ian set." The
guy makes me feel
guilty," Chris
McKinney wrote, "because he pumps out book after book. It’s
the good kind of guilt, though, the kind that pushes me to write."
Our
nomination
letter, whose contributors represented twenty years of Ian's teaching
career, attempted to express the gratitude of all of Ian's students
and protégé: "While he
continues to publish an unbroken stream of short fiction and novels,
he provides guidance to an astonishing number of students who benefit
from his artistic discernment, conscientious instruction, and strong
advocacy. Each of us feels privileged to study with a prolific,
award-winning author who liberally shares his time and expertise. In
short, he actively helps each student fulfill his potential as a
writer by devoting countless hours to reading manuscripts, offering
insightful advice, writing letters of recommendation, and encouraging
students toward publication." Perhaps
all of Ian’s students would say what Samrat Upadhyay said:
"My
success is his success." This
change from full-time to part-time teaching means that we may see a
little less of Ian around Kuykendall. But as he has already
demonstrated for many years, his generosity and commitment to
nurturing and guiding student writers hasn't diminished in the least.
I'm sure I speak for everyone as I wish him some well-earned rest,
but I have no doubt that he’ll spend his "free" hours
doing what he has always done. Writing.
EVENTS :: AWARDS ::
MAJORS ::
GRAD
STUDENTS :: FACULTY ::
DONATIONS :: ARCHIVES
MacMillan
Retires (But Not Really)
By Tamara
Pavich
Tamara
Pavich and
Professor Ian MacMillan.
Recently,
however,
and just at the point of his retirement to part-time status, he has
again brought honor to our department for his exceptional commitment
to teaching and mentorship of student writers. In the fall of 2005,
a group of faculty, alumni, and students, both graduate and
undergraduate, worked together to nominate Ian for a new university
honor, the Distinguished Graduate Mentoring Award. As we learned in
April, he was indeed the Graduate Council’s choice, and I
would
like to describe for you what the Council learned about Ian through
the selection process.