VCU Professor awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

A creative writing instructor at VCU was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. The poet become one of nine VCU faculty and alumni who have received the award.

April 13, 2012; 10:34 AM • by RVANews staff

Kathleen Graber, an assistant professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, was named receipient of a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship. The honor is one of the top awards given to artists in North America.

“We’re very proud of Professor Graber for earning this prestigious honor,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “Her poetry continues to attract attention from the highest ranks and represents the excellence of VCU’s faculty among their national and international peers.”

Past VCU Guggenheim honorees

Elizabeth King, professor of sculpture (2002)
Teresita Fernandez, sculpture alumni (2002)
Bonnie Collura, sculpture alumni (2005)
Hilary Wilder, assistant professor of Painting and Printmaking (2006)
Michael Jones McKean, assistant professor of sculpture (2010)
Corin Hewitt, assistant professor of sculpture (2011)
Stephen Vitiello, associate professor of kinetic imaging (2011)

Graber, who teaches in the Creative Writing program in the English Department received the award in the Poetry category. She has published two collections of poetry, Correspondence and The Eternal City. The latter was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Poetry.

Nine VCU professors and alumni have received Guggenheim Fellowships in the past ten years, including fellow Creative Writing professor, David Wojahn, who received a Guggenheim in 2003.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation began awarding Guggenheim Fellowships in 1925. This year, the foundation awarded 181 fellowships to artists, scientists, and scholars. The foundation received nearly 3,000 applications. Fellows receive grants of varying amounts to provide financial support for six to twelve months. Fellowships are awarded only to those who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.