Rate My Professor Joanne Gabbin

Joanne V. Gabbin is a Professor of English at James Madison University, where she has made profound contributions to the study of Literature, particularly African American poetry. She earned her B.A. in English from Morgan State College in 1967, followed by an M.A. in English in 1970 and a Ph.D. in English and Literature from the University of Chicago in 1980. Her academic career began as an instructor of English at Roosevelt University in 1971, followed by assistant professor positions at Chicago State University from 1972 to 1974 and Lincoln University from 1977, advancing to associate professor at Lincoln in 1982. She also served as program director and instructor at Catalyst for Youth, Inc. from 1973 to 1975. Gabbin joined James Madison University in 1985 as associate professor of English and was promoted to full professor in 1989. She directed the JMU Honors Program from 1986 to 2004, during which it became the Honors College. In 1987, she helped form the Wintergreen Women Writers’ Collective. In 1994, she organized the first academic conference on black poetry, "Furious Flower: A Revolution in African American Poetry," which prompted her to found the Furious Flower Poetry Center in 1999, serving as its executive director.

Gabbin's research specializations include the Black Aesthetic Tradition and African American poetry. Her major publications encompass the book Sterling A. Brown: Building the Black Aesthetic Tradition (1985, reprinted 1994), edited anthologies Furious Flower: African American Poetry From the Black Arts Movement to the Present and The Furious Flowering of African American Poetry, and the children’s book I Bet She Called Me Sugar Plum (2004). Essays by her appear in Callaloo, The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, The Langston Hughes Journal, and Black Books Bulletin. She has received the College Language Association Creative Scholarship Award (1986), JMU Faculty Women’s Caucus Award for Scholarship (1988), Virginia State Council of Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award (1993), JMU Provost’s Award for Distinguished Service, JMU Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from JMU Office of Sponsored Programs (2016), and induction into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent (2005). As executive director of Furious Flower, she secured over $130,000 in grants from sources including the National Endowment for the Arts. Gabbin has served on boards such as WVPT Community Board and Cave Canem.