Did you hear?… Mark Jenkins recipient of McGaw-Hull Endowed Chair in Creative Writing

Mark Jenkins, Outside magazine’s Hard Way columnist, is the first recipient of the McGaw-Hull Endowed Chair in Creative Writing in the University of Wyoming Department of English. A retired Laramie grade school teacher, who prefers to remain anonymous, donated the new endowment to honor one of her former sixth grade students, Keith Hull. Professor Hull, a scholar and playwright, taught in the English Department, and served two terms as chair, from 1969 until 2000. Because the donor left her home state of Missouri to teach in Wyoming, her endowment sponsors a writer living West of the Mississippi to teach a one-credit course in the English Department every two years. “I feel extremely honored to receive the endowed chair in the English Department,” Jenkins said. “The award is especially important to me because I graduated from the University two decades ago with the basic tools to make my way into the world. Now I have the chance to pass on what I’ve learned.” The Chair recognition comes as Jenkins’ latest book from Simon & Schuster, The Hard Way, is being released. The Hard Way is a collection of his monthly columns for Outside magazine, which explore the meaning and joy of the physical, outdoor life.