Margaret Elysia Garcia (’26 MFA Creative Writing) has been awarded the highest honor for graduate students at Chapman University, the James L. Doti Outstanding Graduate Student Award.
The James L. Doti Outstanding Graduate Student Award honors exceptional graduating master’s and doctoral students who have demonstrated distinguished achievement in academics, scholarship, and/or service. Each year, the names of the award recipients are permanently engraved on the campus Doti Award trophy, which features artist Nick Hernandez’s sculpture Emergence (pictured above) and is displayed outside Argyros Forum.
In addition to this lasting recognition, each recipient receives a desk-sized replica of the trophy, a $1,000 award, and recognition during their school’s commencement ceremony.
MFA Creative Writing faculty said they nominated Garcia because her Chapman story is defined by scholarship, craft, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to community. From the start of her time in the MFA program, she approached her work as a lifelong learner, determined to explore every available opportunity and to grow her voice across genres. During her time in the MFA program, she published three editorially reviewed books, with Red Flag Warning: Mutual Aid and Survival in California’s Fire Country being selected as a Golden Poppy Award Finalist. Garcia also contributed significant research through the Ferrucci Institute for Italian Experience and Research, and strengthened the Chapman writing community by hosting student salons at her home, connecting peers to internships in the literary sector, and teaching creative writing in the California correctional system.
“It is likely that Margaret Elysia Garcia is the only MFA student who will have published three editorially reviewed books—each in a different genre—while enrolled at Chapman University,” said Joanna Levin, Director of the MA in English & MFA in Creative Writing. “Margaret excels as a writer of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Whether writing compelling historical fiction or timely poetry or exploring the impact wildfire has on our communities, Margaret has emerged as a powerful literary voice and public intellectual,” she said.
Margaret’s thesis advisor, Professor Richard Bausch, shared: “Margaret’s poems and her stories are sharply textured and deeply felt, without a trace of pretension. We at Chapman will have our Writing Program’s reputation improved simply by being able to claim her as one of ours.” I’m sure Richard’s words ring true for many of Margaret’s faculty and peers.
This year’s award continues a proud tradition of Wilkinson College’s most recent Doti Award winners, including Thomas Cottam in 2014, Julia Walton in 2016, Liz Harmer in 2019, Tryphena Yeboah in 2021, Makena Metz in 2023, Audrey Fong in 2024, and Iara Gonzalez-Ascencio in 2025.
