Alex Matkowsky

The first of his family to attend college, Alex Matkowsky graduated summa cum laude with his BA in English from Rowan University in 2020. He was humbled to have been asked to serve as research assistant to the department’s senior English professor Dr. Cindy Vitto in his final semester. Working alongside her, he applied an analytical rendition of Caroline Levine’s New Formalism to Chaucer’s “Man of Law’s Tale” to evaluate hierarchical significances. An avid fan of British Medievalism, Alex’s research interests include the literary form/content of Old English texts and their influence on Early Medieval ideologies, Marie de France, and more.

Alex is also passionate about educating others, serving a semester and the subsequent year as an intern at the nonprofit Hopeworks Camden. What began as a for-credit internship developed into enthusiastic volunteerism; he constructed and managed various academic games in the dorm referred to as “The CRIB” and tutored young adults struggling with writing papers. He is super excited to begin the fall semester as Villanova’s new English graduate assistant!

Outside of academia, Alex is a huge fan of science fiction literature/films and video games. You may catch him exploring his beautiful neighborhood of West Philly’s coffee shops or going “psst-pssst-pssst” to a stray cat before realizing that you’re watching him.