Nan Osmond Grass Lecture
The Nan Osmond Grass lecture, held annually in honor of the late Nan Osmond Grass, is located on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
This year’s lecture will take place January 16, 2025 at 11:00 AM in B092 JFSB. The topic is "Reading as a Life Journey: Exploring and Enhancing Our 'Real' Life Experiences through Literature." A Meet & Greet will follow from 12:00 to 12:30 in B142 JFSB.
2025 Lecturer: Steven T. Bickmore
Steven T. Bickmore, our 2025 lecturer, is an Emeritus professor of English Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He established the academic blog, “Dr. Bickmore’s YA Wednesday,” hosting posts on Young Adult literature from scholars, teachers, librarians, and graduate students since 2014. He is a past editor of The ALAN Review (2009-2014) and founding editor of Study and Scrutiny: Research in Young Adult Literature. He has co-edited twelve books on the research and teaching of Young Adult literature and produced over 50 articles and chapters on Young Adult literature and other educational topics. He is the co-founder of the education nonprofit, the Liahona African Missionary Scholarship.
Who was Nan Osmond Grass?
Born on January 27, 1909 to Alfred and Annie Lloyd Osmond, Nan was the sixth of seven children. She graduated from Provo High School and went on to earn a BA in English from Brigham Young University in 1930. Growing up in a family of teachers (her parents and five of her six siblings were teachers), she decided to become a teacher herself; after graduating from BYU, she taught English at Jordan High School, Ogden High School, South High, and West High in Salt Lake. She also taught at Snow College and the University of Utah. She married Harry Grass in 1943 and they had two children, Mahlon and Harriet.
Nan received her Masters degree in English Literature from Stanford University and did graduate work at the University of Utah, the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University, University College at the University of London, and New School in New York City.
In 1951, she joined her father and her sister Irene at BYU, working in the English Department until she retired from full-time teaching in 1974. For more than 70 consecutive years, at least one member of the Osmond family served on the faculty at BYU. A gifted teacher with a passion for the work of William Shakespeare and John Donne, Nan received the distinguished Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award in 1975. All who knew her well were influenced by her example of a Christlike life and by her great love for students and literature.
Nan Osmond Grass died in 1999. In recognition of her significant contributions to BYU and to the English Department, generous donors established the Nan Osmond Grass Professorship, which hosts this annual lecture in her honor.
Nan received her Masters degree in English Literature from Stanford University and did graduate work at the University of Utah, the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University, University College at the University of London, and New School in New York City.
In 1951, she joined her father and her sister Irene at BYU, working in the English Department until she retired from full-time teaching in 1974. For more than 70 consecutive years, at least one member of the Osmond family served on the faculty at BYU. A gifted teacher with a passion for the work of William Shakespeare and John Donne, Nan received the distinguished Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Teaching Award in 1975. All who knew her well were influenced by her example of a Christlike life and by her great love for students and literature.
Nan Osmond Grass died in 1999. In recognition of her significant contributions to BYU and to the English Department, generous donors established the Nan Osmond Grass Professorship, which hosts this annual lecture in her honor.