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Meet Professor John McKernan

Bio

Dr. John McKernan, Professor of English, will soon be retiring after 41 years at Marshall University.

John McKernan grew up in Omaha Nebraska and came to Marshall as an Instructor in English in 1967.  He rose through the ranks to Professor after obtaining advanced degrees at Columbia University and Boston University. He was responsible for creating the Writing Center in the English Department and setting up a Site of the National Writing Project at Marshall. He has published more than 400 poems and constantly claims to not have a single regret: “I would do it all over again. The students here have been generally quite good –– many excellent!  I would never complain about getting  paid to talk about poems and poetry and writing”

McKernan has mapped out several retirement projects, and they all involve poems and poetry. He has created ABZ Press, which publishes an annual poetry magazine and also publishes books of poetry by new young writers. His future involves many full-time writing endeavors  ––  publishing even more books of poetry and continuing to teach courses on-line part-time.

The faculty and staff of the College of Liberal Arts extend a sincere thanks and much gratitude for four decades of dedication.

Name:     John McKernan
Title:       Professor
Office:     Corbly 452
Phone:    304.696.6499
Email:     mckernan@marshall.edu