At 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in McCool Hall’s Taylor Auditorium, Mississippi State University’s Institute for the Humanities, an extension of the College of Arts and Sciences, will be hosting Rita Dove as a continuation of the Writer-in-Residence program. 
The Institute for the Humanities runs programs on humanities initiatives that involve hosting different events, inviting speakers for the Distinguished Lecture Program and, beginning in 2014, the Writer-in-Residence program. 
William Anthony Hay, current director for The Humanities Institute, said he began organizing the lecture series in 2005, shortly after the institute began with Gary Myers. Then, Myers was the director of the newly installed institute and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 
“We brought scholars from a range of humanities fields and noted artists and creative writers to campus,” Hay said. “The lecture series became a big draw among students and many community members.” 
Following Myers, Dr. Hay took over and began working with the creative writing faculty in the MSU English Department, which was when the Writer-in-Residence series was created. 
Now, each public reading for the Writer-in-Residence program doubles as an event in the Distinguished Lecture Series. 
Since its beginning, the Writer-in-Residence program has hosted an impressive line-up, alternating poetry and fiction artists including Pulitzer Prize winning fiction writer Robert Olen Butler, Terrance Hayes, a poet who later went on to receive the MacArthur Foundation “genius” award and Dorothy Allison, who is also a Pulitzer Prize winner. Dove, distinguished poet and essayist, is no exception. 
In 1987, the Akron, Ohio, native was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her poetry book “Thomas and Beulah,” making her the second African American to ever receive the distinguished award. 
After receiving the Pulitzer Prize, Dove became the first woman, the first African American, and the youngest person, at 41-year-old, to be appointed the position of poet laureate of the United States.
Co-director of Creative Writing and Associate Professor Catherine Pierce, said it is her duty to help seek out prestigious writers who are also engaging speakers and teachers.
“Rita Dove was our first choice this year’s visitor, and we were thrilled when she accepted our invitation,” Pierce said.
Speaking of the honor it is to host Dove on the MSU campus, Pierce said that she is one of the most significant, living American poets.
“I have no doubt that our students and community will benefit from the chance to hear her share her work,” Pierce said. “I’m very glad that I have the chance to work with the Institute to bring writers of such caliber to campus and to help facilitate such opportunities for our students.”
Over the course of her stay Dove will visit a class, hold a public reading, and meet and talk with students. This event will be free to the public and students of all majors are encouraged to attend.