Donovan Livingston (he/him) is an award-winning educator, spoken word poet, and public speaker. In 2016, his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address, “Lift Off,” went viral, reaching over thirteen million views and prompting Hillary Clinton to praise, “It’s young graduates like [Livingston] who make it clear that America’s best days are still ahead.” Since his pivotal speech, Livingston has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, Good Morning America, and in news outlets across Europe, Australia, India, and South Africa. His convocation address was published as a book by Spiegel & Grau in 2017.
A believer in the enormous opportunities that education provides, Donovan Livingston inspires students, educators, and communities with his conviction that every child has the right to “lift off” and achieve their dreams. Drawing on personal experiences as well as scholarship, Livingston examines the role of culture, hip-hop and spoken word poetry in student experiences in higher and postsecondary education. More specifically, Dr. Livingston is interested in understanding how poetics – rooted in Black lyrical and oral traditions – serve as a catalyst for student success and systemic change in colleges and universities. Livingston’s areas of expertise include educational leadership, critical hip-hop pedagogy, and hip-hop-based qualitative research methodologies. In his role at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Livingston manages the design, implementation, and evaluation of the university’s new general education course requirement for all first-year students. With a dual appointment in the Department of Music, Dr. Livingston also teaches courses on hip-hop history, culture, and composition.
Dr. Livingston has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations. Currently, he serves as Teaching Assistant Professor of Music and Director of College Thriving at UNC Chapel Hill.
Click here for new music, poetry, events, and select publications.
“I am delighted to join the ranks of the vaunted poet laureateship in the Town of Chapel Hill; a community where I developed a profound appreciation for poetics and the spoken word. In my tenure, I hope to continue the tradition of using the arts as a vehicle for social discourse, community research and engagement, establishing strategic partnerships, pursuing funding opportunities for arts-based initiatives, and perhaps most importantly, amplifying local youth voices through creative writing, storytelling, and performance.”
Donovan joins 97.9 The Hill’s Andrew Stuckey to talk about his identity as a poet, educator, and public speaker and what he plans to do during his two-year term.
In March 2026, we unveiled Faces of the Forest, a collection of ceramic art pieces by Levi Yakubu at Pritchard Park. At the kickoff event celebrating the new installation, Donovan shared an original poem inspired by the artwork, called Familiar Faces.
