Land Donation to Aid New Iowa State University Graduate Creative Writing Program

January 27, 2009
Contacts:
Steve Pett, English, 515.294.8273
Dave Gieseke, ISU Foundation Communications, 515.294.7263

AMES, Iowa - At their December 2008 meeting, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved a donation of land to Iowa State University will have a lasting effect on a new program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

An 76-acre plot of land near Don Williams Park outside of Boone, valued at $201,000, was donated to Iowa State by Everett Casey of Detroit, Mich. Casey is a 1946 engineering graduate of Iowa State. The land will be utilized, almost immediately, by the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing and the environment in the Department of English.

Steve Pett, professor of English, said the MFA program has been searching for such a field station since it was approved by the Regents in the spring of 2006.

"We want to be able to take students where they will have an opportunity to engage a wild place, Pett said. Our program has a particular interest in place and documenting a particular landscape."

"Our students will develop projects inspired by this specific environment."

The MFA program explored other sites but decided none fit the criteria they were looking for. Then Casey approached the program about the Boone-area acreage.

Casey wanted to preserve the property, which had been in his family for many decades and which was a place that he frequented in his youth. While a student at Iowa State, Casey took a writing class in the Department of English that he credits as being fundamental to what he later did as a Detroit-area attorney and owner of a manufacturing company.

"Mr. Casey has been a contributor to the department in the past and he liked the idea of this land being taken care of, Pett said."

The 76-acred plot is underdeveloped according to Pett. Only 17 acres are currently being farmed. The acreage features two bluffs with a valley, which was created by Bluff Creek. Future plans include restoring the property back into a native prairie. Other plans include adding a rustic structure, road, water line, hiking trails and a septic system. The land is currently populated by ducks, beavers, wild turkey and deer.

"We envision this field station will be a great place not only for our students, but for alumni and visiting writers to utilize, Pett said. We will preserve the wild character of the land."

"Writing requires solitude. This site will provide a great location to get away to and work."