Greeting Wildcats, It is with heavy hearts that we announce the transition of a pioneer in the Wildcat family. Dr. Genevieve M. Knight, a nationally known math educator whose nearly four-decade career teaching and mentoring students at HBCUs, died on Thursday, August 19, 2021. Dr. Knight was a Lifetime and "Hall of Fame" member of the Fort Valley State University National Alumni Association, Inc. and a member of the FVSU Washington DC Metro Area Alumni Chapter.
Dr. Knight was born and raised in Brunswick, Georgia. After graduating from the segregated Risley High School, Dr. Knight began her college education at Fort Valley State College, where her sisters earned their bachelor's degrees and were members of Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Society, Beta Kappa Chi scientific honorary society and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. After graduating from Fort Valley State in 1961, she earned her master's degree two years later from Atlanta University. She became a National Science Foundation fellow, which brought her in contact with college math teachers across the country.
Dr. Knight earned her Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Maryland, College Park. She began teaching at Hampton Institute in 1963 and taught there until 1966 when she took a break to get her Ph.D. She returned to Hampton in 1970 and continued teaching there until 1985 when she moved to Baltimore and joined the math faculty of what is now Coppin State University.
Throughout her lengthy career, Dr. Knight was a strong advocate for equity for women and minorities, especially when it came to math and mathematics education communities. Dr. Knight has earned many distinguished teaching awards.
Dr. Knight was a generous donor to her local alumni chapter. In 2016, there was a scholarship established in her name, the Dr. Genevieve Knight "Live Your Dream" Scholarship award, that is awarded to students from the Washington DC metropolitan area that attended her alma mater, Fort Valley State University.
There will be a memorial program on Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 2 p.m. The event will be livestream. The event is expected to begin at 1:45 p.m. The family request that in lieu of flowers that donations be made to her scholarship. Any expressions of sympathy should be made to her sister, Loretta Wright at 3144 Gracefield Road, #115, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20904.
