Biography
Maurice Géracht has been a member of the English department and the Holy Cross faculty since 1966. Géracht was born and raised in Paris and moved to America in his adolescence. He then received his B.A. in English with honors from City College, New York and received both his M.A. in English and Ph.D. in English/American literature from the University of Wisconsin. During his career at Holy Cross, he served as the founder and editor of "Interfaces," an award-winning illustrated bilingual journal, has coordinated multiple International Word and Image Conferences worldwide and is, especially, remembered for his creation and implementation of the Study Abroad Program at the College.
Most notably, Géracht received a Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques from the French government. Created in 1808 by Napoleon, this award is the oldest non-military decoration in France and designates him as a knight of arts and culture in France. He received this honor in recognition of his advancement and advocacy of French language and culture in the United States.
Géracht is also greatly committed to bringing visual arts and culture to the Holy Cross community. More recently, Géracht donated more than 700 works on paper by American expressionist Robert Beauchamp to the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery. He also helped create an exhibit of Gabrielle Thierry's impressionistic work to the Cantor Art Gallery. Géracht is currently honored as the Stephen J. Prior Professor of Humanities Emeritus, English at the College.
