A cypress dome is a terrestrial phenomenon that occurs when a depression is shaped into the Earth, encouraging an excessive pooling of shallow water, and the growth of cypress trees. These water-logged craters often wear into natural circles and enable the cypress trees to grow in a circular pattern, creating the formation of a “cypress dome.”
In the late 1980s, Dr. Don Stap, an English professor at the University of Central Florida, suggested to the university’s provost the creation of a literary journal on campus written and directed entirely by students.
The first edition of The Cypress Dome was published during the 1989-90 academic year with a staff of only seven editors to edit, design, and assemble the journal. For years afterward, The Cypress Dome would continue to be an intimate project, the staff consisting of only about half a dozen.
In 2000, The Cypress Dome Society was formed and became an official UCF student organization to bring the efforts within The Cypress Dome editorship to the larger literary arts community at UCF. Since then, the society has functioned as a liaison between the journal and students on campus, hosting monthly events, and partnering with other literary organizations on campus, such as Writers in the Sun. Dr. Stap continued to serve as the journal’s director until 2009, with a few exceptions. By then, the journal had become an internship class that up to twenty students could be selected for.
Over the past four decades, along with Dr. Stap, the journal has been privileged to be directed by UCF faculty including: Terry Thaxton, Jeanne Leiby, Susan Hubbard, Ivonne Lamazares, Toni Jensen, Darlin’ Neal, Lisa Roney, Laurie Uttich, Rochelle Hurt, and Kathy Hohenleitner. Under Kathy Hohenleitner and the 2024-25 staff, The Cypress Dome Society created The Bookshelf, an initiative to bring together literary organizations on campus.
In 2025, The Cypress Dome entered a new phase. With new director and faculty advisor Kianna Greene and a team of carefully curated editors, the 2025-26 staff worked to create a new, modern logo and website; revamp the organization’s social media presence; and began an initiative to digitize all past print issues to ensure the longevity of The Cypress Dome Society and Literary Journal’s fundamental mission—to introduce emerging writers to the literary and editorial world.