BLACKSBURG, Va. – Nikki Giovanni, who recently retired from her role as a professor of English at Virginia Tech, has been honored with the title of University Distinguished Professor Emerita by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
Those who earn the emerita status are recommended to the board by President Tim Sands in “recognition of exemplary service to the university.”
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Before her retirement in September, she earned several accolades including being named Woman of the Year by several publications and earning more than 30 honorary doctorate degrees from various universities.
She became a University Distinguished Professor in 1999 and was named the first Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies. She also created the Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize, the largest annual national undergraduate poetry award in the nation.
Giovanni is best known as a world-famous poet and has inspired many. She’s written 21 books of poetry, hundreds of poems, and 12 children’s books, along with several other books and individual pieces.
At Virginia Tech, Giovanni taught a variety of English courses to both undergraduate and graduate students for 35 years.