Victorine Louistall Monroe

Victorine Augusta Louistall Monroe (August 19, 1912 – October 6, 2006) was Professor Emerita of Library Science at West Virginia University and a member of the Clarksburg and West Virginia Library Commissions. She was the first African American woman to be awarded a graduate degree from the university when she received her master's degree in education in 1945. In 1966, she became the first Black faculty member at West Virginia University, where she was hired as a professor of library science. She attended school from kindergarten to fifth grade in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She moved to Clarksburg, West Virginia with her mother in 1922. Monroe married Ernest Eugene Monroe in 1981. She completed a second Master of Arts degree in library science from West Virginia University in 1963. In 1992, she was inducted in the Order of Vandalia, WVU's highest honor for service to the university, and she served as a member of the President's Advisory Committee for eight years. She retired from West Virginia University in 1978 as a professor emerita, and later served on the West Virginia Library Commission from 1980 to 1992.

The Victorine Louistall Monroe Award for outstanding leadership and service to the African American community was established by the WVU Center for Black Culture and Research in 1992 in honor of Monroe's achievements.