[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3471-S3472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        TRIBUTE TO JO McDOUGALL

 Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize and 
congratulate Jo McDougall for receiving the Porter Fund's Lifetime 
Achievement Award. The Porter Fund's Lifetime Achievement Award is 
presented every 5 years to an Arkansas writer with a substantial and 
recognized body of work. Jo is just the fourth person to receive this 
honor.
  Raised on her family's rice farm near DeWitt, Jo discovered her love 
for writing and language at a young age when her mother would read to 
her each night. She wrote her first poem at just 12 years old, and her 
father proudly displayed it on his desk. This inspired her to continue 
writing. Jo received an undergraduate degree in home economics from the 
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville before returning in 1980 to 
pursue her master of fine arts in creative writing.
  After earning her MFA, Jo taught at Pittsburg State University in 
Kansas for over a decade, codirecting the university's creative writing 
department and guiding the writing center and distinguished visiting 
writers program. She has taught in Arkansas at Hendrix College in 
Conway, AR, and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
  Jo's success stretches beyond the classroom. In April of 2018, 
Governor Asa Hutchinson appointed her Poet Laureate of Arkansas. She 
has published six poetry collections and a memoir, ``Daddy's Money: A 
Memoir of

[[Page S3472]]

Farm and Family.'' In 2015, the University of Arkansas Press published 
a compilation of Jo's poetry, ``In the Home of the Famous Dead: 
Collected Poems.'' Her work is influenced by her Arkansas heritage and 
often portrays the lives of rural families and the struggles, 
hardships, and everyday challenges they face.
  Jo McDougall has earned nationwide recognition throughout her career. 
She has been awarded a fellowship from the Arkansas Arts Council and 
was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame in 2006. She has 
won numerous awards, including the DeWitt Wallace/Reader's Digest 
Foundation Award, the Porter Prize, and the Academy of American Poets 
Prize.
  I congratulate Jo for receiving the Porter Fund's Lifetime 
Achievement Award. Her enduring voice, observances on small-town life, 
and outstanding accomplishments and contributions in poetry for the 
last 40 years have made her more than deserving of this 
recognition.

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