Robert Barker/University Photography

Kenneth McClane, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature.

Robert Barker/University Photography

Maureen McCoy, professor of English.

Longtime Creative Writing Program faculty members Kenneth McClane and Maureen McCoy received heartfelt testimonials from colleagues at a reception following their reading April 19 in Goldwin Smith Hall's Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium.

McClane, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature, and McCoy, a professor of English, are both retiring this year.

"We'll miss them in the classroom," English department chair Roger Gilbert said. "But they will have more time to write, so that's how I console myself."

English and creative writing colleagues including J. Robert Lennon, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon and Ernesto Quiñones shared anecdotes and memories at the reception, held in the Physical Sciences Building atrium. Alice Fulton read a poem she wrote for the occasion. English department administrative director Marianne Marsh performed McCoy's "Baking for Life," from the collection "The Elvis Monologues" (1997).

McClane and McCoy's reading was the last of the semester in the Creative Writing Reading Series.

McClane read a newly written personal essay, reflecting on his late brother Paul and growing up in a New York City neighborhood where, he said, "everyone watched over me, and everyone had the right to set me straight."

He dedicated his book of poems "To Hear the River" to Paul, who died in his early 30s. "The last poem I published was 26 years ago, and it was about Paul," he said.

McCoy, an Iowa native, read her humorous story "How Tiny Tim Entered the Witness Protection Program," set in Des Moines, and originally published in Epoch Magazine, Cornell's literary journal.

The writers were introduced at the reading by Robert Fogarty, editor of the Antioch Review, who said his files yielded several submissions from the writers going back to 1981. One of them, McCoy's essay "Vickie's Pour House: A Soldier's Peace," was a finalist for a 2009 National Magazine Award.

"I've been fortunate to publish work by both writers," Fogarty said. "Both Ken and Maureen are hopeless romantics, as am I; and they're not afraid of showing their emotions. ... They will be remembered for their words, for their voices and their compassion."

McCoy came to Cornell in 1989 and is the author of four novels: "Junebug," "Walking After Midnight," "Summertime" and "Divining Blood." Her honors include a James Michener Award, a two-year Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in the Humanities from the State University of New York, and Cornell's Helen and Robert Appel Fellowship in the Humanities.

She is completing a new novel and working on an essay collection, and will continue to lead fiction workshops. Her other activities include hiking, biking and climbing, and working at her family's Veggie Table stand at the Iowa State Fair, which sells their famed vegetarian corn dogs amid vendors offering pork.

McClane came to Cornell as a freshman in 1969, earning a B.A., M.A. and M.F.A., and began teaching here in 1976. His dedication and contributions to the teaching of creative writing earned him the Clark Teaching Award in 1983. He was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in 2003.

He is the author of eight books of poetry and the essay collections "Walls: Essays 1985-1990" (1992, reprinted in 2010) and "Color: Essays on Race, Family, and History" (2009).

Both will maintain a presence on campus. McClane said he and McCoy will share his Goldwin Smith Hall office, formerly occupied by Vladimir Nabokov.