CONWAY, Ark. (November 8, 2010) – A poet with a passion for museum curation and collections management, Shin Yu Pai arrived at Hendrix in August. She is the new Associate Director of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language. Pai replaces Nell Doyle, who retired last year.
She and her husband Markus Bergman, who works for Hewlett Packard, live in Conway.
Pai was previously an assistant curator at Texas State University in San Marcos, a large public university and college community near Austin she describes as being “very different than Hendrix.”
She sees the work of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs for Literature and Language as ‘closely aligned to humanities centers at larger universities.”
“I was excited by the kinds of programs the Foundation is producing,” she said. “The quality of engagement with visiting presenters is geared toward enrichment” and offers lots of opportunity for students to have intimate contact with visitors.
“I was really attracted to that model,” she said.
There is also great potential to do very interdisciplinary work, incorporating music, anthropology, sociology and religion, in addition to Hendrix-Murphy’s longstanding commitment to literature and language, she said.
Pai sees her role first and foremost as listener and facilitator.
“My job is to get people in the room together who need to talk together,” she said, adding that next year’s program theme will be crime. “Our goal is to attract innovative and imaginative programs from colleagues across the departments.”
Raised in California, Pai attended Boston University as an undergraduate. She completed her MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago with additional studies at the Jack Kerouac School for Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Co., where she published her first collection of work – a volume of poetic translations. She later earned a master’s degree in museum administration from University of Washington in Seattle.
White Pine Press recently released Adamantine, Pai’s seventh book of poetry. The title refers to a hard diamond-like stone of the same name. Stone images are a motif throughout the book, she explained.
The collection explores the intersection between the visual arts and poetry, draws from global news stories, and also meditates upon personal disarmament through the lens of Buddhism.
“It’s been an important concern within my work for nearly a decade,” said Pai, whose interest in Buddhism began as a young adult and solidified during her time at Naropa.
Her work has appeared Wisdom Anthology of Native American Buddhist Poetry, America Zen: A Gathering of Poetry, Tricycle and Zen Monster.
Pai’s awakening as a poet” probably began in my childhood” but was nourished in the creative writing workshops she attended at Boston University, she said.
“Taking these classes early on led me to that path,” said Pai, who also interned at Agni, a Boston-based literary magazine.
At her parents’ urging, she went to graduate school immediately after completing Boston University.
Pai found The Kerouac School at Naropa to be “the total opposite” of Boston University. Naropa was “similar to Hendrix … both are very process-oriented places.”
“It’s creative lineage descends from the Beat tradition, with poets like Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, but also aligns creative practice with contemplative reflection,” she explained.
‘I see aspects of that pedagogy here at Hendrix … with its emphasis on global learning and community service.”
The outcome of the Hendrix education is easily seen in the quality of the students, Pai thinks.
“Students are sharp, curious and open,” she said. “The mode of education here allows students to develop a sense of who they are and develop core values at a younger age.”
For more information on Shin Yu Pai, visit http://shinyupai.com .
For more information on the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language, visit http://www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmurphy .