African American Poets and Academic Appointments

A list of African American poets and their academic appointments.  

• Elizabeth Alexander, Yale University, Department of African American Studies

• Jericho Brown, Emory University, English and Creative Writing

• Rita Dove, University of Virginia, Commonwealth Professor Department of English

• Cornelius Eady, University of Missouri, Department of English

• Kelly Norman Ellis, Chicago State University, MFA in Creative Writing

• Thomas Sayers Ellis, Sarah Lawrence College, MFA Writing Program

• Nikky Finney, University of South Carolina, Department of English and African-American Studies Program

• Nikki Giovanni, Virginia Tech, Department of English

• Michael S. Harper, Brown University, Literary Arts Program

• Terrance Hayes, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of English

• Tyehimba Jess, College of Staten Island, Department of English

• Allison Joseph, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Department of English

• Ruth Ellen Kocher, University of Colorado, Department of English  

• Yusef Komunyakaa, New York University, Global Distinguished Professor Department of English

• Adrian Matejka, University of Indiana, Department of English

• Tony Medina, Howard University, English Department

• Opal J. Moore, Spelman College, English Department

• Marilyn Nelson, University of Connecticut, Emeritus Professor, Department of English

• Evie Shockley, Rutgers University, Department of English 

• Tracy K. Smith, Princeton University, Creative Writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts

• Natasha Trethewey, Emory University, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing.

• Frank X. Walker, University of Kentucky, African American and Africana Studies; Department of English

• Kevin Young, Emory University, Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing and curator of Literary Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library.