Oglethorpe University alumna and Oglethorpe University Museum of Art Advisory Board Chair Karen Head, Ph.D. has been selected as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Fulton County. She was nominated to the position after completing a competitive juried process and submitting a plan to promote and enrich Fulton County’s literary community.
As the inaugural Poet Laureate, Dr. Head will be responsible for fostering a culture of enthusiasm and appreciation for literature throughout the 1.1 million people in Fulton County. The role is meant to assist Fulton County Arts and Culture in reaching diverse communities and promoting literary competency through poetry. She will serve a two-year term.
“I am committed to all the people in our County, and I am passionate about the role of the arts, not only to help prepare people to have more successful and meaningful lives, but also to improve the communities in which we live,” says Dr. Head.
She also serves as the Poet Laureate of Waffle House, another title dedicated to spreading appreciation for the arts in rural high schools.
In addition to serving as chair of the OUMA Advisory Board, Dr. Head also sits on the Georgia State University Perimeter College Advisory Board and is the Secretary of the Poetry Atlanta Board and is the Editor of the international poetry journal Atlanta Review. She is Executive Director of the Communication Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as the Associate Chair and Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.
Dr. Head has published five books of poetry: Lost on Purpose, Sassing; My Paris Year; Shadow Boxes; and On Occasion: Four Poets, One Year. Her poetry appears in a number of national and international journals and anthologies and in 2010 she won the Oxford International Women’s Festival Poetry Prize.
After graduating from Oglethorpe with a Bachelor of Arts degree, she went on to get her master’s from the University of Tennessee and her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska.