Marilyn Nelson, professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut, was elected to the board of chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. She will be one of 14 board members who serve as ambassadors of poetry to the world at large. The board was formed in 1946. The academy’s founder Marie Bullock stipulated that the chancellors be “men and women chosen from amongst literary persons of highest standing. They must themselves be known for their good judgment and eminent integrity of opinion.”
Professor Nelson taught at the University of Connecticut from 1978 to 2002. She is the former poet laureate of the State of Connecticut and served in that position from 2001 to 2006. Twice she has been a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2012, she was awarded the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America.
Her latest volume is Faster Than Light: New and Selected Poems, 1996-2011 (Louisiana State University Press, 2012).
