Jocelyne M Couture-Nowak was an instructor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia and was the only Canadian victim of the Virginia Tech shooting.
14 Facts About Jocelyne Couture-Nowak
1.
2.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was a native of Canada, and while residing in Truro, Nova Scotia, she co-founded the first Francophone school in the region.
3.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak graduated from Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School in 1981.
4.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak began to pursue her teaching career at the Nova Scotia Teachers College in Truro.
5.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak graduated in 1989 then obtained a degree from St Mary's University in Halifax in the early 1990s.
6.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak married Jerzy Nowak, an instructor in the Horticulture Department at NSAC.
7.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak accepted a position as an instructor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature.
8.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was teaching an Intermediate French class in Room 211 at Norris Hall on the morning of April 16,2007 when she was killed by Seung-Hui Cho as one of the 32 victims in the Virginia Tech shooting.
9.
Just before Cho arrived at Norris 211, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak peered outside the doorway and looked just in time to see the gunman shoot at two other professors before slamming the door shut and attempting to barricade it with the help of a student by pushing desks and chairs in front of the entrance while informing her students to get down under their desks or to the back of the room and call 911.
10.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak died in front of the door, and 11 of the 22 registered students died.
11.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was discussed, along with Liviu Librescu, as potentially becoming the "iconic image that will forever recall the massacre at Virginia Tech" by CBC News Editor-in-Chief Tony Burman.
12.
Virginia Tech named her an Honorary Distinguished Instructor and the Virginia Tech Foundation established the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Scholarship, awarded to French majors annually.
13.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was remembered by her former French students that she taught at the all girls boarding school, Chatham Hall located in Chatham, Virginia by a candlelight vigil.
14.
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak served as its director for three years, until his retirement from the university.