Melisa Cahnmann, an assistant professor of language and literacy education, received honorable mention in the 2005 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Contest. Sponsored by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif., the worldwide poetry contest encourages poets to shed light on optimistic visions of peace and the human spirit. A peace advocate, Cahnmann belongs to the Abraham Alliance, a local organization that works with Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities to create peace.