Skip to Content
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • flickr
  • WAGNER.EDU
  • A-Z
    A
    • Academic and Cultural Enrichment
    • Admissions
    • Alumni & Friends
    • Anthropology Department
    • Arts Administration
    • Athletics
    B
    • Biological Sciences Department
    • Bookstore
    • Business, Nicolais School
    • Business Office
    C
    • Calendar
    • Campus Life
    • Campus Services
    • Center for Academic & Career Engagement
    • Center for Intercultural Advancement
    • Center for Leadership & Community Engagement
    • Center for Spirituality
    • Children & Teens Programs
    • Commencement
    • Communications & Marketing
    • Conference Services
    • Continuing Education
    D
    • Dance Program
    • Dining Services
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    E
    • Early Childhood Center
    • Economics Department
    • Education Department
    • English Department
    • Expanding Your Horizons
    F
    • Faculty Research Sites
    • Film & Media
    • Film & Photo Shoots
    • Financial Aid
    G
    • Gender Studies
    • Government & Politics Department
    • Give to Wagner
    H
    • HawkTalk Blog
    • Health & Wellness
    • History Department
    • Holocaust Center
    • Honors Program
    • Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform
    • Human Resources
    I
    • Information Technology
    • Institutional Advancement
    L
    • Library
    • Lifelong Learning Department
    M
    • Math & Computer Science
    • Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures
    • Music Department
    N
    • Newsroom
    • New Students Hub
    • Nursing, Evelyn L. Spiro School
    P
    • Performing Arts
    • Philosophy & Religious Studies Department
    • Physical Sciences Department
    • Physician Assistant
    • Planetarium
    • Pre-Health Science Program
    • Pre-Law Program
    • President’s Office
    • Provost’s Office
    • Psychology Department
    • Public Safety
    R
    • Registrar
    • Residential Education
    S
    • Sociology Department
    • Student Engagement and Activities
    • Student Government Association
    • Study Abroad
    T
    • Theatre
    • Theatre Season
    • Title IX
    V
    • Veteran’s Resources
    • Visual Arts Department
    W
    • Wagner Fund
    • Wagner Magazine
    • WCBG Student Radio
    • Writing Center
  • QuickLinks
    ONLINE
    • Directory
    • Follett Discover Access
    • Mailport
    • Make a Gift
    • Moodle
    • myWagner
    • Wagner Works
    ON CAMPUS
    • Events Calendar
    • Job Opportunities
    • Library
    • Registrar’s Office
    • Theatre Season
    • Visit Us
    • Webcam
    MORE RESOURCES
    • For Employees
    • For Faculty
    • For Current Students
    • For New Students
    • For Community
    • For Alumni
    • For Parents
Wagner College Newsroom
  • Events
  • Stories
  • Contact
  • Newsroom MENU
    • WAGNER.EDU
    - Prev Article Video: Poet laureate Billy Collins at Wagner - Next Article
    October 15, 2013 Share
    Share on Facebook
    Facebook
    Tweet about this on Twitter
    Twitter
    Share on LinkedIn
    Linkedin
    Pin on Pinterest
    Pinterest
    Email this to someone
    email
    Text Size

    On Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins gave a funny, very engaging reading for the Kaufman-Repage Lecture at Wagner College's 130th anniversary Founders Day program. Here is an hour-long video of portions of Collins' program:


    In June 2001, Billy Collins was appointed United States Poet Laureate 2001-2003. In January 2004, he was named New York State Poet Laureate 2004-06. Collins is a Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, as well as a Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute at Rollins College.

    Collins is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. His work has appeared in a variety of periodicals including the New Yorker, the Paris Review and the American Scholar. He is a Guggenheim fellow and a New York Public Library “Literary Lion.” His last three collections of poems have broken sales records for poetry. His readings are usually standing room only and his audience, enhanced tremendously by his appearances on National Public Radio, includes people of all backgrounds and age groups. The poems themselves best explain this phenomenon. The typical Collins poem opens on a clear and hospitable note but soon takes an unexpected turn; poems that begin in irony may end in a moment of lyric surprise. No wonder Collins sees his poetry as “a form of travel writing” and considers humor “a door into the serious.” It is a door that many thousands of readers have opened with amazement and delight.

    Billy Collins has published eight collections of poetry, including “Questions About Angels,” “The Art of Drowning,” “Picnic,” “Lightning,” “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes,” “Sailing Alone Around the Room: New & Selected Poems,” “Nine Horses,” “The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems,” “Ballistics” and, most recently, “Horoscopes for the Dead.” A collection of his haiku, titled “She Was Just Seventeen,” was published by Modern Haiku Press in fall 2006. He also edited two anthologies of contemporary poetry: “Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry” and “180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day,” was the guest editor of “The Best American Poetry 2006,” and edited “Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems about Birds,” with paintings by David Allen Sibley. His next book, “Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems 2003-2013,” will be released in October.

    Included among the honors Billy Collins has received are fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He has also been awarded the Oscar Blumenthal Prize, the Bess Hokin Prize, the Frederick Bock Prize and the Levinson Prize, all awarded by Poetry magazine. In October 2004, Collins was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry.


    THE KAUFMAN-REPAGE LECTURE, a celebration of Wagner College’s commitment to scholarly work and open inquiry, is sponsored by former Wagner College trustee Dr. Louise S. Kaufman ’75 M’78 H’12 and her husband, Dr. Peter Kaufman. They established the lecture series seven years ago with the goal of bringing noted speakers to campus and the community. This annual lecture is given during the college’s Founders Day convocation in mid-October each year. Past speakers have included Ken Jackson, professor of history and social science at Columbia University; Rebecca Skloot, author of the award-winning book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”; Bonnie Bassler, Squibb Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University and a 2002 MacArthur Fellow, and Joel Kotkin, author of “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050.”

      • Founders Day/Kaufman-Repage Lecture
      • Homepage Feature
      • Wagner News

    Popular Stories

    • Emma Pittman Emma Pittman

      Wagner theater grad gets lead in Broadway’s ‘Chicago’ — again!

      May 4, 2022

    • Wagner Magazine CASE Grand Gold Award a Wagner Magazine CASE Grand Gold Award a

      Wagner Magazine wins top prize

      June 29, 2022

    • 190903 Margaret Peggy Reynoldsa 190903 Margaret Peggy Reynoldsa

      Dr. Peggy Reynolds, 101

      March 25, 2020
     

    Related Stories

    Wagner Magazine CASE Grand Gold Award aHidden Image June 29, 2022 Wagner Magazine wins top prize CASE Grand Gold Award for news/feature writing given for Lee Manchester’s story about 1970 Black student protests at Wagner
    New graduate cheering at CommencementHidden Image May 16, 2022 Wagner ranked a ‘Best College for Your Money’ Among private colleges and universities in New York City, Wagner was ranked a better value than Yeshiva, Fordham and New York universities and the Pratt Institute
    main hall building imageHidden Image May 9, 2022 Help buy new Seahawk costume! https://youtu.be/O_2t0Pm8DMM Use this link to give $5 for a new Seahawk costume! Under the "Designation" dropdown menu, select "Seahawk Mascot Costume." I’m speaking to you today about a subject
    Evelyn L Spiro School of Nursing Wagner CollegeHidden Image May 6, 2022 $3M gift boosts nursing school Fund for leadership, innovation supports Spiro School of Nursing
    Emma PittmanHidden Image May 4, 2022 Wagner theater grad gets lead in Broadway’s ‘Chicago’ — again! The pandemic knocked Emma Pittman ’18 off Broadway in 2020. Now, she’s back on the ‘Chicago’ playbill for 2 weeks in June.
    main hall building imageHidden Image April 29, 2022 Undergraduate Awards 2022 At annual ceremony, Wagner recognizes 36 students for outstanding achievement
    CabaretaHidden Image April 28, 2022 WCT’s ‘Cabaret’ runs thru Sunday Acclaimed musical about pre-war Berlin runs April 28–30, May 5–8
    Angelo AraimoaHidden Image April 27, 2022 Angelo Araimo named Wagner College’s 20th president Araimo has served as interim president since October. Trustees vote to make his appointment permanent.
    Richard Baller1Hidden Image April 25, 2022 Wagner grad endows professorship $1.5M gift from Richard Baller ’51 to support academic program
     
    • Wagner Magazine

      Stories from alumni around the world.

      Read the magazine

    • Contact the newsroom

      Media relations director Lee Manchester
      lee.manchester@wagner.edu
      718-420-4504

    • Wagner in the media

      Wagner College 2019 news coverage

      Browse Catalog

    • Visit Campus
    • Explore Majors
    • Library
    • Make a Gift
    Wagner College
    Work One Campus Road
    Staten Island, NY 10301
    • CONTACT US
    • Privacy Policy
    Back top