Exhibition Unveiled in Science Library to Honor Toni Morrison
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By Mirai Abe | February 16, 2026
An exhibit to honor Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, who taught at the University at Albany from 1984 to 1989, was unveiled last Friday (2/13). Morrison, who passed away in 2019, is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” that she wrote while teaching at UAllbany.
Organized by the New York State Writers Institute, the display in the Science Library on Uptown Campus includes the writing desk and chair she used during her tenure at the university. The display is accompanied by a poster on the wall that commemorates her time at UAlbany.
“This celebration of Toni Morrison is also a reminder of who we are as an institution of higher education,” said UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez in his speech before the unveiling ceremony. “It is an affirmation of the university and Albany’s commitment to being a place where everyone can author their success.”
“We are very proud, truly proud to be a university with an unwavering commitment to embracing diversity, equity and inclusion,” he added. “We are a place, we are an institution where everyone can find space to support and achieve greatness here at the University at Albany.”
The English Department Chair Laura Wilder also spoke about Morrison’s history at UAlbany to the audience.
“It is not an understatement to say ‘Beloved’ is one of the most important, devastatingly impactful works of American literature,” Wilder said. “It seems she discussed her progress with her lucky writing students here.”
Wilder said Morrison brought vibrancy and brilliance to Albany through UAlbany’s English department and the New York State Writers Institute as a leading figure of literature and the first African American woman senior editor of Random House.
To highlight Morrison’s dedication as an educator, Wilder shared an anecdote: She bought one of her fiction writing students, Maureen McCoy, her first personal computer, drawing warm laughter from the audience.
Jannel Hobson, a professor in UAlbany’s Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, also gave a speech to honor Morrison’s work and influence.
Hobson expressed that it is crucial to remember her words in these heightened times of government overreach, authoritative threats against the values of diversity, equity and inclusion and increases in racism and misogyny.
“The function of racism, the very serious function of racism, is destruction,” she said, quoting Morrison’s thoughts.
“She kept on doing the work and crafting her work because she did not need to prove anyone her genius,” Hobson said. “She did what she did, and the world caught up in recognition of that brilliance.”
Senior English major Anaya Castillo said that she has read “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved.”
“I feel like she talks about a lot of topics that need to be spoken about. I feel like her writing is really important because it shows proof that those things happen,” referring to racism and the history of slavery that Castillo believes are being erased in these political times.
“It feels a little bit like making not like a caricature of her, but more of a spectacle,” Castillo said upon seeing the exhibit. “But I feel like showing her literary works or pictures of her is fine.”
The permanent exhibit to commemorate Toni Morrison can be found on the first floor of the Science Library.