On December 22, 2014, he was named by Governor Pat McCrory as the ninth North Carolina Poet Laureate, a position he held from 2014 to 2016.
[4] In October 2014, Stephenson was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, along with Betty Adcock, Ronald H. Bayes, and Jaki Shelton Green.
[5][6] He was later installed as the state's new poet laureate on February 2, 2015, in a ceremony at the State Capitol with Governor Pat McCrory, Cultural Resources Secretary Susan Kluttz, and Wayne Martin, Executive Director of the North Carolina Arts Council.
[7] Stephenson hopes to pursue three projects during his tenure as state laureate: holding writing workshops in assisted living and retirement communities, raising awareness of local archives and family histories, and promoting writings about farming and farm life in North Carolina.
[9][10][11] Following the controversy surrounding the appointment of former state Laureate Valerie Macon, Governor McCrory said: "I've learned my lesson.