Virginia Fowler

Virginia Fowler, Emerita Professor

_{Department of English

vfowler@vt.edu}

Educated at the University of Kentucky and the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Fowler is a Professor of English, where she directs undergraduate studies in English. She teaches courses in African-American literature, in women writers, and in the fiction of Toni Morrison.. She is currently an associate producer of a documentary film about Nikki Giovanni, which is being made by the Rada Film Group.

Principal Areas of Research Focus

The Fiction of Henry James
American Literature
Victorian Literature
African-American Literature
The Fiction of Toni Morrison
Nikki Giovanni's Poetry
The Black Arts Movement

Education

Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh (1976); M.A. University of Pittsburgh (1971); B.A., University of Kentucky (1969).

Professional Roles

Director of Undergraduate Studies, 2014- .
Director of Literature and Language, 2013-17, 2019-
Director of Literature, Language, and Culture, 2002-11
Director of Graduate Studies, 1985-91
Associate Department Head,1986-91
Vice President, Phi Beta Kappa, 2012-13; President, 2013-14; Treasurer, 2014-
Faculty Member, Presidential Global Scholars, 2013-14
Commission on Undergraduate Studies and Policies, 2002-05 (Chair 2004-05); 2017-20
Commission on Student Affairs, 2003-06
University Council, 2004-05
Editorial Board, Henry James Review, 1985-87
Guest Editor, Special Issue on Gloria Naylor
CLAHS Faculty Council, 2005-08; 2015-16

Awards and Honors

Academy of Faculty Service
CLAHS Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising
CLAHS Diversity Award
Department of English Diversity Award
Denny C. Plattner Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction, Appalachian Heritage, 2009

Publications

Books

Nikki Giovanni: A Literary Biography. Praeger, 2013.
Gloria Naylor: In Search of Sanctuary. Twayne/Macmillan, 1996
Nikki Giovanni. Twayne/Macmillan, 1992.
Henry James's American Girl: The Embroidery on the Canvas. U of Wisconsin, 1984
Conversations With Nikki Giovanni (ed.). The University Press of Mississippi, 1992.

Journal Articles

"'Tennessean by Birth'." Appalachian Heritage: A Literary Quarterly of the Southern Appalachians. 40.4 (2012): 14-22.
"A Nikki Giovanni Chronology." Appalachian Heritage: A Literary Quarterly of the Southern Appalachians. 40.4 (2012): 51-62.
“Nikki Giovanni’s Appalachian Ties.” Appalachian Heritage 36, 3 (2008): 42-50.

Book Chapters

“A Conversation With Gloria Naylor.” In Gloria Naylor: In Search of Sanctuary; rpt. in Conversations With Gloria Naylor, ed. Maxine Lavon Montgomery, pp. 123-37.: University Press of Mississippi, 2004.
“‘And This Poem Recognizes That’: Embracing Contrarieties in the Poetry of Nikki Giovanni.” In Her Words: Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women’s Poetry, ed. by Felicia Mitchell, pp. 112-35. University of Tennessee Press, 2002.

Other Creative Works

"Listening With Her Heart." In Grand Mothers: A Multicultural Anthology of Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories About the Keepers of Our Traditions, ed. Nikki Giovanni, 6-9. New York: Henry Holt, 1994. Reprinted for use by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program High School Pilot Test. Lansing: State of Michigan Department of Education, 1999.

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