Members of ɫӰ’s Swift Studies, a group of English graduate students, will present “Taylor Evermore: A Swift Symposium” on April 25 and 26 in McVitty Auditorium in at ɫӰ.
Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in Arlington, Texas, in 2023.
(By Ronald Woan of Redmond, WA, )
“Taylor Evermore: A Swift Symposium” was inspired by a group of scholars passionate about reflecting on Swift as a popular culture icon and her literary ability to create music on the feminine experience, socio-political forces, and other significant topics. It is their mission to provide an opportunity to further academic conversation regarding Swift and her lyrical talent for interested graduate and post-graduate students.
The symposium is open to students and to the community. There is no charge for admittance to the event, and attendees will be registered at the event; no preregistration is required. Persons can attend the entire event or individual sessions as their schedule permits. Please see the for more details.
Kristin Mlay-Kuhns, a student and graduate assistant in ɫӰ’s English Literature and Criticism program, is the symposium chair and the Taylor Swift Study Group leader. Melanie Holm, program director of the Composition and Applied Linguistics graduate program, serves as faculty sponsor. Holm is an English professor from the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing.
“The idea for a Taylor Swift-themed academic symposium originated with Dr. Holm at the conclusion of her Summer II 2024 ‘Literature as a Profession’ course,” Mlay-Kuhns said.
“She had several ‘Swifties’ in her course at that time and mentioned the possibility of forming a Graduate Studies Taylor Swift Study Group in tandem with a culminating spring symposium. It’s amazing to see something that was just an idea come to full fruition. One of our primary objectives in holding this conference is for scholarship on Swift to be taken seriously and to advance this burgeoning field of scholarship ourselves, by presenting papers at conferences, such as this, and publishing in academic spaces. I want to thank Dr. Holm for acting as our faculty sponsor, and the organizing committee I’m working with, which is comprised of cochairs Josie Kochendorfer, Stacey Hoffer, and Gates MacPherson, for their tireless work, passion, and effort on this project.”
In addition to her doctoral studies at ɫӰ, Mlay-Kuhns is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University. She graduated in 2001 from Smith College with a bachelor’s degree in German Language and Cultural Studies and holds a master’s of arts in teaching from the University of Pittsburgh (2007). In May 2023, she published her book, The Origin and Development of Empress Elisabeth’s Legend, which has been quoted in the introduction to Hametz and Schlipphacke’s 2018 book, Sissi’s World. She is currently working on a contribution to an edited book collection called Sissi and Us: New Mythologies, due for publication in summer 2026 through the Editions universitaires de Dijon (EuD). The title of the contributing article is “‘The Empress and the Pop Star’: Archetypal Parallels and Patterns between Taylor Swift and the Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary.”
Hoffer and Kochendorfer are ɫӰ doctoral English Literature and Criticism program candidates and MacPherson is a doctoral student at ɫӰ.
Hoffer recently co-organized ɫӰ’s English Graduate Organization’s 2025 Conference, “Landscapes of Language and Literature.” She teaches freshman composition at a community college in Delaware and is the president of the Mid-Atlantic Writing Center Association and regional affiliate for the International Writing Center Association.
Kochendorfer holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Ohio State University and teaches college literature and writing in Portland. She has presented on Taylor Swift at various conferences, including the University of Melbourne’s Swiftposium, Popular Culture Association, and Southwest Popular/American Culture Association’s Online Salon, focusing on feminine affect and autonomy. She has an article forthcoming this fall on aging women in fairy tales and science fiction.
MacPherson holds an MBA and BA from Endicott College located outside Boston. She is a graduate assistant for the ɫӰ Kathleen Jones White Writing Center and the Women and Gender Studies program. Following the submission of her candidacy portfolio, she plans to pursue her research interests, which are antiheroines in theological narratives.
“We are passionate about reviewing current pop-culture icons that demonstrate literary expertise,” MacPherson said.
Billie Tadros, the symposium’s keynote speaker, is an associate professor in the Department of English and Theatre at the University of Scranton, where she also teaches in women’s and gender studies and has previously directed the concentration in health humanities. She has also taught at Wilkes University in the Maslow Family graduate program in creative writing. She is the author of three books of poems—Graft Fixation (Gold Wake Press, 2020), Was Body (Indolent Books, 2020), and The Tree We Planted and Buried You In (Otis Books, 2018)—and three poetry chapbooks.
The symposium events begin at 2:00 p.m. on April 25 with welcoming remarks and introduction of the panelists. The day’s events include:
- 2:15 p.m. – Opening panel, “‘Ladies Always Rise Above:’ Disrupting Patriarchal Narratives of Sex, Selfhood, and Success.” This opening panel includes Juliette Holder from Texas Woman’s University, Katie Cline from Bowling Green State University, and Christina Xan from the University of South Carolina.
- 3:30 p.m. – Panel, “‘No One Likes a Mad Woman’: Feminism and Womanhood,” featuring Rebecca Karpen from New York University and ɫӰ doctoral candidates Heather Holland and Michelle Winters.
- 4:45 p.m. – Panel, “‘Magic, Madness, Heaven, Sin’: Occultism and Religion,” featuring Kochendorfer, Hoffer, and MacPherson.
The symposium schedule for April 26 is:
- 10:30 a.m. – Welcome remarks and introduction of keynote speaker Billie Tadros
- 10:45 a.m. – Keynote address with Dr. Tadros
- 11:45 a.m. – Panel, “‘I’m a Monster on the Hill’: Monstrosity and the Body,” featuring Alexia Rogers from Buffalo State University, Eliot Viv from Texas State University, and Shoshannah Diel from Marshall University
- 1:45 p.m. – Panel, “‘Feeling So Gatsby’: Swift and the Classics,” featuring Lily Prince from the University of Montevallo, Rebecca Whaley from Clemson University, and ɫӰ doctoral candidate Liz Laughlin
- 3:00 p.m. – Panel, “‘You Fit in My Poems Like a Perfect Rhyme’: Language, Lyrics, Mashups, and Revisions,” featuring Lingtian Lang from the University of Cambridge and ɫӰ doctoral candidates Rachel Martin, Sydney Nelson, and Sydnee Pilarski
- 4:15 p.m. – Panel, “‘The Story Isn’t Mine Anymore’: Beyond the Music,” featuring Jack Rozdilsky and Talia Shortt from York University in Toronto and Jordan Traut-Jellad from the State University of New York at Binghamton
- 5:30 p.m. – Panel, “‘I Think It’s Time to Teach Some Lessons’: Swift Pedagogy,” featuring Mlay-Kuhns and Jeannette Vigliotti and Annie Schultz from Flagler College
The symposium closes with remarks and acknowledgments at 6:30 p.m.