WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Wake Forest University is naming a new residence hall in honor of famous former faculty member Maya Angelou.

The private university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said Friday the five-story building now under construction will house more than 200 first-year students when it opens in January 2017.

University President Nathan Hatch says Angelou was a towering figure on campus and in American culture. Angelou taught a variety of humanities courses as a professor of American studies from 1982 until her death in 2014.

The poet, actress and civil rights activist was perhaps best known for her 1969 book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

by: The Associated Press  / (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)