Poet and essayist Sherod Santos launched the 2010-11 Distinguished Speaker series Thursday with a reading from his collective works of poetry, including his most recent titled The Intricated Soul: New and Selected Poems. He is a recipient of the Theodore Roethke Poetry Prize, a finalist for the National Book Award, and nominee for the New Yorker Book Award. Other honors include Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts and Ingram Merrill fellowships, and Pushcart prizes. The Institute for the Humanities sponsored the visit by the English professor from the University of Missouri, Columbia.