UIndy Department of English Names 2026-2027 Student Poet Laureate

The Department of English at the University of Indianapolis is excited to announce the selection of Sarah Tiffany ’28 as the 2026-27 Student Poet Laureate. Tiffany is an English-creative writing major whose writing ranges from fantasy to creative non-fiction –her poems are primarily built on experiences and feelings.

Tiffany was selected through a competitive application process judged by Alecia Beymer, a published poet and assistant professor of english at the University of Cincinnati.

Beymer writes: “Sarah Tiffany’s poems elicit a feeling of someone reaching out to you, asking to be near you. There is an introspective quality of attempting to know the self while simultaneously being intrigued by connection and its possibilities. During this search for self and another, Tiffany invokes the uncertainty of being – how difficult it is to cultivate an awareness of who you are and what you notice. Tiffany writes, ‘I’ve stopped at every gas station / And rest stop on this road / And still missed everything / That could have happened.’

“Even in Tiffany’s quest to observe, log, and know, she acknowledges how much she has missed. This poetic wisdom of seeking presence while it slips within the daily of this living evokes compelling movement in this poem. Sarah Tiffany is a poet on the verge of telling you something you need to hear, and she will be an excellent student poet laureate at the University of Indianapolis.”

As UIndy’s Poet Laureate, Sarah Tiffany will compose and read five original works for events on campus, beginning with Convocation in the fall.

The UIndy Student Poet Laureate program is generously supported by Michael and Mary Cartwright. UIndy’s 2025-26 Student Poet Laureate, Piper Parks ’26 (Creative Writing), closed her duties by reading a poem at the Spring Commencement Ceremonies in May.