Jocelyne M. Couture-Nowak (February 17, 1958 – April 16, 2007) was an instructor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg, as well as the surrounding county, is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of V ...

and was the only Canadian victim of the

Virginia Tech shooting The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Seung-Hui Cho, an u ...

. She was a native of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and while residing in

Truro, Nova Scotia Truro (Mi'kmaq: ''Wagobagitik''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Truru'') is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth at ...

, she co-founded the first

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

school in the region.

Life and career

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, she was raised in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...

, the eldest of five children. She graduated from

Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School (YCMHS) is a secondary school located in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is part of the Tri-County Regional School Board and is the only high school in the town of Yarmouth. The high school serves the t ...

in 1981. Couture initially worked at a newly opened daycare operated by the Yarmouth Boys and Girls Club. She began to pursue her teaching career at the

Nova Scotia Teachers College The Nova Scotia Teachers College (NSTC) was a normal school located in the Canadian town of Truro, Nova Scotia. History The Nova Scotia Teachers College was founded as the Provincial Normal School by an act of the Nova Scotia House of Assembl ...

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

. She graduated in 1989 then obtained a degree from St. Mary's University in Halifax in the early 1990s. While living in Truro, Couture worked as a French instructor in the Humanities Department at

Nova Scotia Agricultural College Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) was a publicly owned Canadian university college (founded 14 February 1905 and administered within the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture) located at Bible Hill, Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Agricultura ...

(NSAC). She married Jerzy Nowak, an instructor in the Horticulture Department at NSAC. Couture-Nowak had two daughters, Sylvie and Francine. With two other local Francophone parents, Couture-Nowak established the ''École acadienne de Truro'', the first French language public school for central Nova Scotia in September, 1997. Operated by the

Conseil scolaire acadien provincial The Conseil scolaire acadien provincial is the Francophone school board for Nova Scotia. It was created in 1996. Schools *Centre scolaire Étoile de l'Acadie (pr to 12); Sydney *École acadienne de Pomquet (pr to 12); Pomquet *École Beau-Por ...

, the École acadienne de Truro has grown from 36 students in 1997 to 118 students in grades Primary through 10. The school's first class of seniors graduated in 2006. In 2001, Couture-Nowak and her husband moved their family to

, where her husband had accepted a position as Professor and Head of the Department of Horticulture at Virginia Tech. Couture-Nowak accepted a position as an Instructor of French in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature. Throughout her life Couture-Nowak described herself as being a proud French-Canadian.

Death

Couture-Nowak was teaching an Intermediate French class in Room 211 at

Norris Hall Norris or Noris may refer to: Places In Canada *Norris, Ontario, in Algoma District In the United Kingdom *Hampstead Norreys (or Norris), Berkshire In the United States * Norris, Illinois * Norris, Missouri * Norris, Nebraska * Norris, ...

on the morning of April 16, 2007 when she was killed by

Seung-Hui Cho Seung-Hui Cho (, properly Cho Seung-hui; January 18, 1984 – April 16, 2007) was a Korean-born mass murderer responsible for the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others with two semi-automatic pistols on Apr ...

as one of the 32 victims in the

. Couture-Nowak, one of the first to be shot in Norris 211, was 49 years old when she died. Upon hearing gunfire nearby, the students in her room thought it was construction going on outside. After hearing much louder banging, she realized it was coming from the hallway and not from outside. Just before Cho arrived at Norris 211, Courture-Nowak peered outside the doorway and looked just in time to see the gunman shoot at two other professors ( Kevin Granata and Wally Grant) before slamming the door shut and attempting to barricade it with the help of a student (Henry Lee) 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. However, the attempt at barricading the door was unsuccessful and Cho nudged his way into the room. Couture-Nowak died in front of the door, and 11 of the 22 registered students died.
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Posthumous recognition

The

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

observed one minute of silence in tribute to Ms. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak. In Nova Scotia, more than 400 people attended a commemorative service for her. In speeches given in the

Canadian parliament The Parliament of Canada (french: Parlement du Canada) is the federal legislature of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and is composed of three parts: the King, the Senate, and the House of Commons. By constitutional convention, the ...

shortly after the shooting,

Canadian Prime Minister The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as such ...

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

and

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...

leader

Stéphane Dion Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of ...

made special mention of Couture-Nowak. Nova Scotian Premier

Rodney MacDonald Rodney Joseph MacDonald (born January 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician, educator and musician who served as the 26th premier of Nova Scotia from 2006 to 2009 and as MLA for the riding of Inverness in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1999 ...

also made special mention of Couture-Nowak, and in particular spoke of her contribution to the francophone community with her key role in the development of ''École acadienne'' in Truro. Couture-Nowak was discussed, along with

Liviu Librescu Liviu Librescu (; he, ליביו ליברסקו; August 18, 1930 – April 16, 2007) was a Romanian–American scientist and engineer. A prominent academic in addition to being a survivor of the Holocaust, his major research fields were aeroelas ...

, as potentially becoming the "iconic image that will forever recall the massacre at Virginia Tech" by CBC News Editor-in-Chief

Tony Burman Tony Burman (born 13 June 1948) is a Canadian broadcaster, journalist and university official. Starting in the 1960s, Burman has worked as a journalist, in print, radio, television, and online. For most of this time (35 years), he was at the Can ...

. Virginia Tech named her an ''Honorary Distinguished Instructor'' and the Virginia Tech Foundation established the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Scholarship, awarded to French majors annually. Nova Scotia Agricultural College also established a

bursary A bursary is a monetary award made by any educational institution or funding authority to individuals or groups. It is usually awarded to enable a student to attend school, university or college when they might not be able to, otherwise. Some awa ...

in her name. Students at Virginia Tech have also organized a new foreign language program named ''Teach for Madame'' in honor of Couture-Nowak, wherein members teach French to elementary school students. 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. In May 2008, Virginia Tech named Couture-Nowak's widower, Jerzy Nowak, as the founding director of its newly created Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention. He served as its director for three years, until his retirement from the university.

Life and career

Death

Posthumous recognition

References

Further reading