The Wilson College Author’s Hall of Fame celebrates members of the Wilson community who have made significant contributions to a life of letters and who have enhanced the literary culture of the College and society as a whole. Their names are added to the honorary plaque in the John Stewart Memorial Library and their books become part of the library’s special Author’s Wall collection.

This year, Wilson honored two members of the Wilson family with induction into the Author’s Hall of Fame, the late Jeffrey Bardwell, Ph.D., former assistant professor of biology, and Teresa Cader ’69.

Jeffrey H. Bardwell, Ph.D. (1982-2024)

The Wilson community suffered a profound loss with the sudden passing of Jeffrey Bardwell in the summer of 2024, at just 42 years old. Beyond his role as a beloved biology professor, Bardwell was a prolific writer of epic fantasy, weaving together elements of darkness, steampunk, and romance, set in the Metal vs. Magic Universe he created and in which he constructed new cultures and languages.

In his brief life, he began three different book series–The Artifice Mage Saga, The Mage Conspiracy, and The Laws of Fire and Steel. He published nine books, several in each series, and an anthology, along with numerous short stories and other works. His character-driven novels featured gritty realism, political intrigue, lurid entanglements, dragons, and a dry wit that mirrored Bardwell’s personality.  In an interview, he once described one of his novels as “a fantasy steampunk brawl … where sorcery is bloody, science is greasy, and nobody’s hands are clean.”

Michael Cornelius, Ph.D., dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, fondly recalled his many conversations with his friend and colleague over a cup of coffee at Sarah’s Coffeehouse, where they often discussed the writing process.

“We still miss Jeff very much,” Cornelius said, “but it gladdens my heart to know that his name and his writing will live on, enshrined in our library and in the Author’s Hall. That is a very nice memorial to a man who was both a man of science and a man of art.”

Teresa Cader ’69, M.A., M.P.A.

Teresa Cader ’69 earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and left Wilson with numerous accolades, including induction in Phi Beta Kappa, departmental honors, the President’s Prize for Academic Achievement, and the Mary Beard Shepherd Prize in Literature. She continued her education at the University of Wisconsin, where she earned a master’s degree in English, and at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she completed a
Master of Public Administration degree.

Her professional career spanned both higher education and public service. She taught in the Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Creative Writing Program at Lesley University for 11 years, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emerson College, and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She also served as Associate Director of the Innovations in Government Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government after extensive work in the public sector.

Cader has published four poetry collections: “Guests” (1991), which won the Norma Farber First Book Award and The Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize; “The Paper Wasp” (1999); “History of Hurricanes” (2009), a Massachusetts Book Awards ‘Must-Read’ selection; and “At Risk,” which received the 2023 Richard Schneider Memorial Book Prize. Her work has appeared in major publications such as The Atlantic, Poetry, Slate, Harvard Review, and Ploughshares, and she has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the MacDowell Colony. Her poems and interviews also have been translated into Polish and Icelandic.

During the award ceremony, Cader read selections from her poetry, including a recent piece titled “From the Forest,” written for her new granddaughter. Her readings offered the audience a glimpse into the voice that has defined her literary career which, Cornelius noted, was shaped in part by her time at Wilson.