Chaplaincy Who We Are

Mary Grace Williams

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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Joshua Boettiger

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

Phone: 845-752-4619
E-mail:  gaffron@bard.edu


In 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  Expand

Nora Zaki

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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JaQuan Beachem

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

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.