Mourning the passing of beloved professor Randall Kenan ’85

Randall Garrett Kenan, a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus, master storyteller and professor of creative writing in the department of English and comparative literature, passed away at his home the week of Aug. 24.

Kenan graduated from Carolina in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in English and began his career on the editorial staff of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a publisher in New York. He went on to teach fiction, nonfiction and food writing at Carolina, which he called “an enchanted place.” He served as a visiting professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in 1995 and joined the faculty full time in 2003. He also taught at numerous universities, including Duke, Columbia and Mississippi.