The Chaplaincy provides a diverse staff of chaplains to meet the the varied spiritual needs of the college in collaboration with a wide range of community partners. We are available for pastoral care and support during these challenging times for the entire Bard community.
Mary Grace Williams
Chaplain of the College
Episcopal Chaplain
Phone: 845-758-4775
Cell: 203-858-8800
E-mail: mwilliams@bard.edu
The Rev. Mary Grace Williams, Chaplain of the College/Dean of Community Life, came to Bard in 2016 excited to work with college students. She received her B.A. from Rutgers University where she studied Theater Arts (Acting and Directing) which led her to move to NYC directly after college to pursue a career in theater.
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While living in the West Village, she rediscovered her deep interest in spirituality and religion and that inspired her to do a M.A. in Religious Education from Fordham University. Eventually this led her to seek ordination as an Episcopal priest and she attended Yale Divinity School and earned a M. Div. Mary Grace has two daughters, Grace who is doing a Masters in Bio-Med at Tufts University, and Kate who just graduated from Bard in 2020 as a Human Rights/Dance major. She lives in Rhinebeck and has two Cavalier King Charles dogs and a Maine Coon cat.
Joshua Boettiger
Jewish Chaplain
Rabbi
Joshua will officially join us this coming August but is already getting to know our community as he connects with staff and students remotely. He is a Bard alum (1996) and has deep roots in the Hudson Valley due to family connections. Currently, Joshua is serving as the rabbi at Temple Emek Shalom in Ashland, Oregon where he has led his congregation for the past nine years. He and his wife, Vanessa, also a rabbi, were both ordained through the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2006 and then in 2018, he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Pacific University. Joshua is excited to work with our Interfaith Chaplaincy and to bring his unique interests of poetry, Jewish ethics, and pastoral care to the Bard community. He plans to move back to this area midsummer with his family that includes, his nine-year-old daughter, Paloma.
Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron
Buddhist Chaplain
Phone: 845-752-4619E-mail: gaffron@bard.eduIn September 2017 I was ordained by my Soto Zen teacher Seido Suzuki Roshi at Toshoji, Okayama prefecture, Japan. The outward manifestation of my monastic calling was the result of 20 years walking the Buddhist path, practicing as a lay person mainly with my first Zen teacher John Daido Loori, founder of Zen Mountain Monastery, Mt. Tremper, NY, which Suzuki Roshi helped building up in the 1980s. I subsequently completed a three-year residential training at Toshoji, being appointed shusso, master disciple, in the summer ango 2019. In
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September 2020 I returned to Bard – where I founded the Bard Meditation Group in 2001, in response to September 11 – wishing to share even more deeply the beauty, simplicity and freedom of the Zen teachings.
The weekly meditation group (Monday and Thursday evenings), Q&A sessions, private encounters, and awareness workshops (my main interests are the Zen arts with sumi-e ink drawings, haiku and chanoyu, tea ceremony) are offerings to facilitate an experience that you can equally learn to trust your own Buddha nature. Learning to rest in the moment can be an eye-opening insight as your burden lifts and your mind opens as wide as the wonders of this world. Any necessary ecological, social, political engagement comes from this place of acceptance, so we can move forward with a realistic, but positive outlook. Please feel whole-heartedly invited and let’s walk this path of liberation together.
Nora Zaki
Muslim Chaplain
Phone: 813 447 9582 (for emergencies only, please)
E-mail: nzaki@bard.edu
Nora Zaki, Master of Divinity, a University of Chicago Divinity School graduate, is the Muslim Chaplain at Bard College. She is interested in Quranic and Islamic Studies, particularly Islamic ethics. She has studied Arabic in Fes, Morocco, Amman, Jordan and Cairo, Egypt and visited Algeria, Turkey, Palestine and Israel. Nora grew up in an interfaith household and culture that compelled her to think about her spiritual
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identity from an early age. She feels her calling is working in an academic environment that values introspection and social responsibility. Nora earned a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic, Religion, and Political Science at the University of Florida. She served as a chaplain at Dominican University in Chicago, was a volunteer chaplain at the Cook County (IL) Jail, and worked as the first Muslim hospital chaplain at Tampa General Hospital. Nora serves as the Muslim Chaplain at Vassar College, too.
JaQuan Beachem
Chaplain Intern
An advocate and artist groomed in the suburbs of Atlanta, JaQuan Beachem '17 is a third-year Master of Divinity candidate and diploma seeking student at Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School. JaQuan is thrilled to be returning to their alma mater, Bard College, to connect with current students via the Chaplain's Office, BEOP, and the Center for Inclusive Excellence! JaQuan practices ministry that is love-centered, joy-seeking, trauma-informed, and justice-oriented. In their leisure, JaQuan enjoys jamming out to music, honing his yoga practice, tasting a new recipe, and noticing things bloom.
Antonio Gansley-Ortiz
Chaplain Intern
Antonio Ortiz, the new Bard Chaplaincy intern, was a BEOP scholar who graduated from Bard College in 2018 with a degree in Economics and is currently attending Yale Divinity School to obtain his Master of Divinity. Between graduating from Bard and starting at Yale, Antonio worked in non-profit and humanitarian travel, and at the nation’s oldest repertoire theatre just outside of Philadelphia. Antonio is passionate about the connections between religious belief and political identity formation, the resurgence of Christian nationalism around the world, and the unique manifestations of religion across different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with a particular emphasis on religion in Latin America and China. Antonio is excited to return to Bard College in this new role, and to work closely with the BEOP office and other campus organizations to ensure the chaplaincy office is meeting its obligations in providing pastoral care for students of color. Outside of academics, Antonio is also passionate about soccer, chess, and classic Hong Kong Kung Fu cinema.
Contacting the Chaplaincy
For more information contact:
Bard College Chaplaincy
PO Box 5000
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
Phone: 203-858-8800
E-mail:
mwilliams@bard.edu