The 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW) was held at the College of the Holy Cross from October 3-6, 2019. Hosted by Lee Oser, professor of English, the three-day event featured 17 seminars; four plenary panels; poetry readings by famed poets A.E. Stallings, Major Jackson, David Ferry and Rachel Hadas; and a dinner featuring a string quartet composed by Matthew Pinder ’20, this year’s Fenwick Scholar. This year is the first time Holy Cross has been chosen to hold the noteworthy conference.
A number of Holy Cross faculty members were among the high-profile moderators and readers at the conference, including Sarah Stanbury, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities in the English department; David Lewis Schaefer, professor of political science; Jorge Santos, assistant professor of English; Aaron Seider, associate professor of classics; Thomas Martin, professor of classics; Maurice Géracht, Stephen J. Prior Professor of Humanities in the English department; Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, Monsignor Murray Professor in Arts and Humanities in the English department; Oliver de la Paz, associate professor of English; and Leila Philip, professor of English.
Holy Cross alumni returned to campus to sit on panels, as well, including Traugott Lawler ’58, professor emeritus of English at Yale University; Dennis Taylor ’60, professor emeritus of English at Boston College; Will Hendel ’11; Chase Padusniak ’15; and Alex Pisano ’16. Eighty current Holy Cross students were also in attendance.