{"id":426579,"date":"2026-10-13T13:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/426579\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:38:14","slug":"poet-stacey-waite-talks-craft-connection-and-campus-challenges-at-fiu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/426579\/","title":{"rendered":"Poet Stacey Waite talks craft, connection and campus challenges at FIU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate Anastasia Le | Staff Writer<\/p>\n

Poet and University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln professor Stacey Waite spoke on classroom pedagogy and recent university policy changes during a reading at FIU\u2019s Biscayne Bay Campus Thursday, Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

Waite, the Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, delivered an animated reading that quickly expanded into a candid Q&A session on the intersections of creative writing, pedagogy, and contemporary higher education realities.<\/p>\n

The discussion moved deeper into the craft of writing and public engagement when an attendee asked how she navigates humor alongside vulnerable subject matter. Drawing on her background in pedagogy, Waite explained her belief that students who speak and laugh in their first week of class are far more likely to participate throughout the term.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you laugh, you\u2019re open. You relax,\u201d Waite explained. \u201cYour imagination and your heart are just more open to whatever you\u2019re hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about her expressive reading presence, Waite clarified that she had no formal acting training. Instead, her delivery stems directly from internal pacing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI just read them the way that I hear them to myself,\u201d Waite said, drawing laughs from the room as she recalled turning down poetry slams because she \u201ccan\u2019t memorize anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation also touched on the socio-political climate surrounding public universities across the country. Waite shared firsthand observations regarding structural shifts at her home institution in Nebraska, including the recent closure of its DEI office and LGBTQ+ Resource Center amid state-level legislative and budgetary measures.<\/a> Noting that UNL<\/a> was among the first universities in the nation to offer courses in LGBTQ+ studies in the 1970s, Waite described the sudden policy changes as disorienting for long-standing faculty and students alike.<\/p>\n

When an audience member asked how she navigates teaching amidst political pressures in higher education, Waite acknowledged that colleagues across several red states have relocated, but affirmed her commitment to remaining in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been there for 15 years. It\u2019s where my kids were born; it\u2019s my home. I\u2019m not leaving,\u201d Waite said.<\/p>\n

For Waite, these campus dynamics reinforce why writing remains a vital tool for community building rather than isolated aesthetic theory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been relational for me,\u201d Waite told the audience. \u201cIf I thought no one would ever read another one of my poems again, I\u2019d probably just do something else to connect with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Post Author<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kate Anastasia Le | Staff Writer Poet and University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln professor Stacey Waite spoke on classroom pedagogy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[167720,684,2845,225,227,226,115,2847,53270],"class_list":["post-426579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-creatingwriting","tag-events","tag-fiu","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-news","tag-panthernow","tag-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}