Former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove, Commonwealth Professor of English, visited Yale University on Nov. 7 as a Chubb Fellow, joining a distinguished list of previous honorees that includes presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, author Toni Morrison, choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, journalist Walter Cronkite and feminist Gloria Steinem. Dove gave a public reading, met with students during an intimate question-and-answer luncheon and was honored at a private dinner in Yale's Timothy Dwight College.

The Chubb Fellowship is devoted to encouraging and aiding Yale students interested in the fields of government, culture and public service. Robert Thompson, master of Timothy Dwight College, told the Yale Daily News, "Dove was inevitably chosen because she is one of the most distinguished poets now writing. [She] is a world-class artist with insights galore about race, love, gender and dreams — all richly present in her verse."