Faculty & Staff

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Department

Last Name

Michael Cervas

English

Year Appointed: 1986

Retired: 2020
Swayze Award 2011
O’Brien Award 2014
University of Notre Dame - A.B.
Brown University - M.A.

Bio

During his 34-year tenure on the Westminster faculty, Michael taught all levels of English; coached basketball, soccer, track, baseball, golf and squash; worked as a corridor supervisor in Alumni House; and presided as department head for three decades. Having retired from his full-time appointment to the faculty at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, Michael continues to direct the Westminster Poet series, which he founded in 1999, and the Friday Nights at Westminster series, which he founded in 2009.

Michael enjoys reading, gardening, squash, and playing and listening to music (everything from classical and jazz to folk and Americana to indie rock and alt country). His first book of poems, “Inside the Box,” was published in 2007, his second book, “Captivated,” came out in 2011, his third book, “A Wilderness of Chances,” was released in 2015 and his fourth book, "Even Here," came out in 2020. All of his books were nominated by his publisher for the Pushcart Prize, and he has read his poems in venues as varied as the Mystic Art’s Cafe, WordForge in Hartford, the Windsor Arts Center, and the Ridgefield Playhouse (as the opening “act” at a Dar Williams concert).

Since retiring from full-time teaching, Michael has kept busy playing keyboards for the Americana band Firetown Road which was formed by Dan Aber, Grant Gritzmacher, and Michael in the early days of COVID and now has albums on a variety of music streaming platforms.

Michael and his wife, Deb, live in Hartford and are the parents of Josh ’96, a graduate of Amherst College; Emily Autumn ’01, a graduate of the University of Puget Sound; and Anne ’10, a graduate of Harvard College. They are also the proud grandparents of Brendan and Ryan Cervas and Eloise and Ari Costello.
Lawrence Court

English

Year Appointed: 2016

(860) 408-3749

Field Hockey
Advisor The Westminster News
Durham University - B.A.
University of Aberdeen - P.G.D.E.
Fletcher School at Tufts University - M.B.A.

Bio

A native of Great Britain, Lawrence is a graduate of Strathallan School, Scotland. He studied at Durham University, the University of Aberdeen, and Cambridge University. In 2022, Lawrence completed an MBA through the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

He has served in a range of roles at independent schools in England and the United States. Before emigrating, he worked at Eton College in Windsor, England, where he served as a housemaster, class dean, English teacher and coach.

At Westminster, in addition to coaching and advising the student newspaper, he leads the fly fishing club.

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