Prof. Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, English, was chosen among hundreds of contestants as one of the five finalists in the 2009 National Book Award for Poetry last Wednesday for her poetry collection Open Interval.

“Like the Romare Bearden paintings she writes about in Open Interval, Van Clief-Stefanon’s work is colorful, sometimes playful, grounded in reality, yet other-worldly at the same time,” the National Book Foundation’s website states.

The National Book Award spans four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People’s Literature. Only books written by American citizens and published in the United States are eligible for the award, according to the National Book Foundation’s website.

This is the second article in a two-part series which focuses on Cornell’s decision to phase out language programs in an attempt to reduce the University’s budget.

The importance of writing skills, as exemplified by mandatory first-year writing seminars, has always been a constant emphasis at Cornell. However, English for Academic Purposes, which helps non-native speakers enhance their writing skills in the English language, will soon be eliminated due to the University’s across-the-board 5-percent budget cuts.