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Matthew Lavin '02 has been awarded the Western Literature Association Fellowship at the journal Western American Literature, which is produced with the English department at Utah State University.

His Fellowship duties include "helping select, prepare and copyedit manuscripts, as well as a variety of other tasks required to produce a scholarly journal."

In a feature on the association's Web site, Lavin states, "The opportunity to work on Western American Literature led me to the department of English at Utah State University. My background at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise in the Adirondack Park in New York gave me a lot of writing experience, but after a year or so I was ready to move on." Lavin's academic interest – begun as an undergraduate at St. Lawrence – centers on the work of Willa Cather.

Western American Literature, the official journal of the Western Literature Association, is "the premiere publication devoted to the study of an increasingly important region. The journal features articles, reviews and annual roundups of recent scholarship as well as special issues devoted to issues central to the field."

Professor of Canadian Studies Robert Thacker, whose scholarly work includes many publications on Cather, is a past president of the Western Literature Association; he now serves as executive secretary/treasurer of the organization. In 2003, he received the association's Deb and Edith Wylder Award for Longtime Service. Thacker was Lavin's advisor at St. Lawrence.

Posted: October 13, 2004