Pomona College’s Claudia Rankine Elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets

Claudia Rankine, the Henry G. Lee Professor of English at Pomona College in California, has been elected one of three chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. The chancellors act as ambassadors for poetry to the world at large, advocate for the work of the Academy of American Poets, offer advice on artistic direction and elect recipients of the Academy’s awards. The Academy of American Poets was founded in 1934 and is the largest membership-based, nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation of poetry.

Professor Rankine is a native Kingston, Jamaica. She is a graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and holds a master of fine arts degree Columbia University. She joined the faculty at Pomona College in 2006.

Professor Rankine is the author of four collections of poetry: Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf Press, 2004), Plot (Grove Press, 2001), The End of the Alphabet (Grove Press, 1998), and Nothing in Nature is Private (Cleveland Poetry Center, 1995).