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Virginia Tech professor and poet Nikki Giovanni has retired after 35 years teaching in the English department.
Virginia Tech professor and poet Nikki Giovanni has retired after 35 years teaching in the English department.
Giovanni, 79, cited her age as the reason for her retirement on Thursday.
“In all fairness, I’m getting old,” she told campus publication VTx.
An accomplished and award-winning author, Giovanni came into the national spotlight in 2007 after one of the deadliest school shootings in the U.S., which killed 32 people and wounded several others.
The following day, she gave a convocation address addressing the shooting, ending with the lines, “We will prevail. We are Virginia Tech.”
Giovanni is know for her poetry, essays and other writing that focus on social issues, including race and gender. She has received awards from the NAACP, been a finalist for a Grammy and the National Book Award.
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement that Giovanni’s words will “continue to inspire us and touch readers around the world, and while we will miss her regular presence on campus, she will always be a beloved member of our university community.”
One of Giovanni’s former students was best-selling author Kwame Alexander, who called Giovanni his “literary mother,” VTx reported.
Giovanni graduated from Fisk University in 1967 with a degree in history. Before joining Virginia Tech in 1987 as a visiting professor, she had teaching jobs at the College of Mount Saint Joseph and Ohio State University.
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