Billy Collins
Featured Speaker - Saturday Night Banquet

President of CATE, Michelle Berry, presents the Distinguished Service Award to Cheryl Joseph

Cheryl Joseph, the 2007 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award

Cathy Cirimele, Bullard High School, introduces the featured speaker, Billy Collins

Billy Collins, Poet Billy Collins is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. He has published eight collections of poetry, including Questions About Angels; The Art of Drowning; Picnic, Lightning; Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes; Sailing Alone Around the Room: New & Selected Poems; Nine Horses; and The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems. He also edited two anthologies of contemporary poetry: Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry and 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Everyday. Included among the honors Billy Collins has received are fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggnheim Foundation. In June 2001, Billy Collins was appointed United States Poet Laureate 2001-2003. In January 2004, Collins was named New York State Poet Laureate 2004-06. Billy Collins is a professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York.