Percy MacKaye, who occupied the "Poet's Shack" recently memorialized in Bishop Woods, reportedly convinced fellow writer Robert Frost to pursue a residency at the University of Michigan after finding Miami University a hospitable environment for his own work. In 1921, MacKaye praised then-president of Miami R.M. Hughes for creating the "first fellowship in creative art established for a man of letters in America." 

In "University Fellowships in Creative Art," MacKaye set forth a case for university support of creative activity. MacKaye and Hughes seemed to share a vision of the university as an essential element of American life and to agree on the importance of creative expression to the development of citizenship. You can download a pdf of MacKaye's original essay.