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JMU Libraries and Furious Flower Poetry Center Welcome New Employees

Posted January 22, 2024 in JMU Libraries News

In 2022, the Mellon Foundation awarded JMU $2 million to secure the digital future of the Furious Flower Poetry Center, the nation’s first academic center devoted to Black poetry, through a partnership with the JMU Libraries. 

Today, we’re thrilled to introduce six new employees in JMU Libraries and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Four of these positions are financially supported by this generous grant. Two of them represent tenure-track commitments by the Libraries to work that is closely aligned with grant goals. 

The grant-funded work, also known as the “Flowerings Project,” supports Furious Flower’s internationally recognized leadership and provides funding for archival description, digital preservation, and global access to Furious Flower poetry and spoken word performance videos held by JMU Libraries Special Collections. The grant also supports the enhancement of Furious Flower’s web and scholarly publishing infrastructure in partnership with open access and digital scholarship initiatives led by JMU Libraries. These new colleagues bolster ongoing efforts in both units. 

Meet our new team members! 

Left to right: Gbenga Adesina, Layne Carpenter, N’Kosi Oates, PhD, David Black, Caitlin Birch, and Megan Medeiros.

Layne, N’Kosi, David, and Caitlin are just four of the JMU Libraries’ newest team members. Check out this related story to meet all the Libraries’ newest folks!