A Unique Poetry Legacy: Student Poet Laureates

Every year since 2008, Linn-Benton Community College has selected a student poet laureate, the only community college in the U.S. to have established this tradition. “We could have a poet laureate at LBCC and it could be a faculty member, but we decided that we wanted to focus on students. It’s part of the artistic and literary legacy of LBCC,” said Jane White, an English faculty member at LBCC from 1975-2002.

Along with former LBCC faculty and staff members Robin Havenick, Victoria Fridley, and graphic artist M’Liss Runyon, White helped bring together submissions from the former student poet laureates in A Unique Poetry Legacy, published in August 2021.  The book includes three works by each of the nine featured laureates, as well as thoughtful narratives reflecting on their experiences as LBCC’s student poet laureates.

Publication costs were met through a grant from the Linn County Cultural Coalition, generous donations from the English Department Endowment Foundation Fund, former LBCC President Rita Cavin, and others in the community. 

White concluded:  “We’re hoping that through this book, in part, other colleges and universities will embrace this idea and follow through with it on their own campuses.”

You can read A Unique Poetry Legacy: Student Poet Laureates on the Community Archives at LBCC.