CU Denver English Department Earns Prestigious Honors

Two award-winning poets from the university share insights on the importance of poetry and how to get started reading it.

Mar. 26, 2026 at 10:37pm

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CU Denver's English Department has recently collected some impressive awards, with Wayne Miller, professor and department chair, and Nicky Beer, professor, being named honorary members of Sigma Tau Delta, an international honor society of writers. Miller also won a Pushcart Prize for poems from his latest collection. In an interview, the two poets discuss why poetry is important in 2026, how non-poetry readers can start incorporating it into their lives, and what makes CU Denver's English Department exceptional.

Why it matters

The recognition of CU Denver's English Department faculty highlights the university's commitment to fostering literary talent and promoting the value of poetry in contemporary society. As people feel increasingly isolated in the digital age, poetry can provide a powerful antidote through its ability to create intimate human connections across time and space.

The details

In the fall 2025 semester, Wayne Miller and Nicky Beer were named honorary members of Sigma Tau Delta, an international honor society that includes influential literary figures. Earlier this year, Miller also won a Pushcart Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes, for poems from his sixth collection of poetry, The End of Childhood, published last year.

  • In the fall 2025 semester, Miller and Beer were named honorary members of Sigma Tau Delta.
  • Earlier this year, Miller won a Pushcart Prize for poems from his latest collection.

The players

Wayne Miller

Professor and department chair of the English Department at CU Denver.

Nicky Beer

Professor in the English Department at CU Denver.

Sigma Tau Delta

An international honor society of writers that includes influential literary figures like Ursula K. Le Guin, Dave Eggers, and Billy Collins.

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What they’re saying

“We're all together online but we feel increasingly isolated. Perhaps poetry is the antidote to this spiritual sickness; at its heart, it's an enduringly analog form of human connection.”

— Nicky Beer, Professor

“What I love most about poetry is its intimacy. Poetry feels to me like the author is whispering directly into my ear. That intimacy creates space for shared uncertainty and for the exploration of unresolvable complexity.”

— Wayne Miller, Professor and Department Chair

The takeaway

CU Denver's English Department is thriving, with its faculty earning prestigious awards and producing impactful work across a wide range of literary disciplines. The department's commitment to fostering literary talent and promoting the value of poetry in contemporary society is a testament to the university's dedication to the humanities and its role in cultivating meaningful human connections.