Congratulations are in order to our alumnus, Richard Blanco, B.S. Civil Engineering ’91! Two-time FIU alumnus and associate professor of creative writing Richard Blanco on Tuesday received the National Humanities Medal for his contributions to American poetry.
President Joe Biden conferred the honor on the engineer-turned-poet alongside other recipients – writers, historians, educators and activists – in a White House ceremony.
Blanco, who currently serves as the first poet laureate of Miami-Dade County, recalls that the inital message he received about the award, from the National Endowment for the Humanities, elicited the same question as did a phone call, from the White House, to compose an original poem to read at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration: “What had I done to deserve this honor?”
Read more at FIU News.