This year’s Cogan Fellow discussed how Dickinson formed her three-fold vocational identity as an educator, minister and scholar and the impact of her major in English on the different aspects of her work.

Rev. Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, Ph.D. ’97, the Spring 2019 Cogan Fellow, is a scholar in Christian education and practical theology. She has taught students from the middle school level to doctoral students and has worked as a youth minister, according to the Dickinson College website.

The English Majors Committee was involved in the selection of Lockhart-Gilroy as this year’s fellow, said David Blosser ’19, the liaison for the event.

“We, as a Committee,” wrote Blosser in a statement, “selected Rev. Dr. Lockhart-Gilroy because of the breadth and depth of her work as a Christian minister, practical theologian and womanist.”

“She is a true testament to the strength of the English major,” said Blosser, “and the many ways in which it can benefit any career and inspire lifelong learning.”

The Cogan Lecture and reception are hosted annually by the English Department. For the occasion, the department invites back a previous English graduate to share their life and work experiences with students, according to the college’s website. The event is named after Eleanor Cogan for her “commitment to lifelong learning and to the study of English literature.” Cogan, after retiring as a research chemist, continued her education at Dickinson in 1979 and was given an honorary doctor of lettres in 2003. She took 52 courses at Dickinson, 32 of which were in the English department.

Frances Youmans ’19, an English and German double major, said “I always look forward to the Cogan event, because it’s in that time in the semester when I think everybody needs some encouragement.”

Many students enjoyed the event this year.

“What was most impactful for me was the idea of taking control of your education by building your own syllabi,” said Shannon Nolan ’19, an English majors committee member. “I loved that the Reverend did so and presented it to her professor so that they could never use the excuse of not know authors from marginalized groups as a reason to not teach them again.”

Youmans said she found the talk inspiring and that she “especially loved what [Lockhart-Gilroy] said about the importance of centering the experiences of writers traditionally ignored in English classes.”

Maia Baker ’19, another member of the English majors committee, enjoyed the lecture as well, highlighting Lockhart-Gilroy’s discussion of her vocational identity, beliefs in emancipatory pedagogy and the benefits of faith for young people. Baker said that she is “so grateful that [Lockhart-Gilroy] returned to Dickinson to share her ideas about faith and centering marginalized voices.”

Blosser was also impacted by Lockhart-Gilroy’s focus on marginalized voices and wrote “For me, Rev. Dr. Lockhart-Gilroy’s talk was a powerful reminder of our responsibility to share those voices that have been silenced, to raise a microphone to those voices, and not only share but center those stories.”

Lockhart-Gilroy’s lecture, “In Between the Lines and Outside the Canon: Learning from What They Don’t Teach You,” took place on Monday, Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m. in the Stern Center Great Room and was followed by the Cogan Reception at 6:30 p.m. in the HUB Social Hall.