First-Year Seminar Faculty

Rob Cioffi teaches in Classical Studies, Literature, and History. The first class he taught at Bard College was a section of First-Year Seminar, and he’s very much looking forward to helping to lead a program that shaped his experience of Bard. His research focuses on the relationship between ancient Greek literature and ancient Egypt, which was the subject of his first book, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Greek Novel. He sometimes writes for the London Review of Books and the New York Times Book Review. In January, he can be found excavating in Hermopolis Magna in Middle Egypt. During the rest of the year, he is the McWilliams House Professor.

Simon Gilhooley is an Associate Professor in the Politics program at Bard College, where he teaches courses on American politics and political thought. Originally from the United Kingdom, Simon became interested in the US Constitution as an undergraduate student at the University of Edinburgh, where his weekend job was managing a kilt shop. Pursuing that interest (the Constitution, not kilts) has took him on an academic journey to the University of London and Cornell University where he studied, before taking up teaching positions at Ithaca College and then Bard College. Interested in the ways ideas interact with historical moments, he is excited to explore the different conversations that the First-Year Seminar gives rise to.

Kathryn Tabb is a member of the Philosophy Program, and also teaches in Experimental Humanities and Human Rights. She is interested in madness - its history, its ethics, and how it defines us. Along with teaching on the history and philosophy of psychiatry, she offers classes on early modern philosophy, on medical ethics, on disability, on feminist philosophy, and on history and philosophy of science more broadly. She is completing a book on John Locke's theory of irrationality and its role in the political sphere. She has long been an enthusiast for core curricula like FYSem. Before coming to Bard in 2019, she completed the University of Chicago's core curriculum as an undergraduate and taught in Columbia's core curriculum as a professor, experiences that left her convinced of the value of close encounters with transformative texts for which one has little preparation, guidance, or special expertise - especially when undertaken in the company of others. 

Andrew K. Atwell is an anthropologist, Judaism and Middle East specialist, and Visiting Assistant Professor of the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions and Jewish Studies at Bard College. He is the author of “Resuscitating Torah: ‘Judaization,’ Moral Imagination, and National-Religious hesed in Central Israel” in Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, forthcoming 2026; “Religion, Authority, Grammar: The Scholarly Legacy of Secular Concepts” in Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority: A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson, 2022. He is broadly interested in moral imagination in its relation to political theology, political economy, and traditions of critical reflectivity, and his primary focus is on national-religious Israeli Judaism. His current book project, Lod Alight: National-Religious Activism, Moral Imagination, and the Limits of Reflection, is a study of the moral imagination at work in a national-religious “social settlement” movement that has settled in Israel’s binational cities since the mid-1990s. Fellowships include: Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant; Fuerstenberg Fellowship in Jewish Studies; Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies Research Grant, University of Chicago. At Bard since 2024.

BS, Eckerd College; MA, University of Virginia; MA (Religious Studies), MA (Anthropology), PhD, University of Chicago



 

As a literary scholar and musician, I am thrilled to be coming to Bard, an ideal place to pursue my dual vocation! I received my PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia in 2019 with a dissertation on nineteenth-century American philosophies of life (from Emerson to the Jameses) and taught in the Columbia core, as a visiting professor at Deep Springs, and most recently for five years as a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Humanities Program/Directed Studies at Yale. I've taught seminars on personal identity, theory of value, American romanticism, the epic tradition, and Bob Dylan, among other topics, and have a particular passion for teaching general education humanities courses. I think seminar-style, non-specialist discussion of great texts in pursuit of insight into the human condition is the heart of liberal education both in the traditional academy and beyond: I regularly teach for the Yale Prison Education Initiative and adult-education programs like the 92nd Street Y and Yale Alumni College. At Bard, I'm delighted to be participating in this work as a FYSEM instructor and the Teagle Faculty Fellow at Bard's brand new Chang Chavkin Center for Liberal Education and Civic Life. I'm the co-editor with David Bromwich and Bryan Garsten of Humanistic Judgment: Ten Experiments in Reading (Yale University Press, 2026) and am working on a book entitled Radical Humanism that draws on writers like Montaigne, Woolf, and Baldwin to show how humanistic liberal education, by re-grounding itself in the full complexity of individual experience, can make us real to ourselves and others in our dehumanizing digital age. Also a classical pianist, I am a Teaching Artist at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT, where I teach a studio of private students, serve as collaborative pianist for schoolwide recitals, teach masterclasses, serve on juries, and perform in faculty recitals. Recent performances include a lecture-recital on Ives’s “Concord” Sonata at Yale and "Central Park in the Dark" with Orchestra New England; other teaching and performance projects focus on Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, works of Schumann, Scriabin, and Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus in cultural context. At Bard, I'm thrilled to work in both music and the liberal arts generally, and am eager to work with Conservatory students seeking to bridge their performance and academic pursuits.

Ingrid Becker is Visiting Assistant Professor of Human Rights in the Division of Languages and Literature. Her research and teaching interests bridge the study of Anglo-American literature, poetry and poetics, human rights, and sociology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and her classes at Bard focus on the intersections between human rights discourses and literary texts. She is currently working on a book titled “Socio/Poetics: A Cultural History,” which explores the relationship between literature and sociology in the United States and the broader anglophone world since the early twentieth century. Before coming to Bard, she taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Chicago, where she also received her PhD. She holds previous degrees from the University of Oxford (MSt) and Boston University (BA). 

Joshua Boettiger is Bard’s Jewish Chaplain. As a Visiting Assistant Professor, he also teaches courses ranging from Jewish Poetry, to the History of Jewish Heresy, as well as classes through the Courage to Be Program in conjunction with the Hannah Arendt Center. He is Rosh Yeshiva (Head of School) at the Center for Contemporary Mussar, where he teaches and trains teachers in Jewish approaches to ethical mindfulness.  Joshua has an MFA in Poetry (Pacific University, 2018) and a Masters in Hebrew Letters/rabbinic ordination (Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, 2006). A graduate of Bard back in 1997, Joshua is excited to have returned and to continue to be part of the FYSEM journey.

 

Rachel Cavell teaches in Bard’s Language and Thinking Program, and is a Faculty Associate with Bard’s Institute for Writing and Thinking. She teaches Essay and Revision at Bard, and writing and civics at the Bard Prison Initiative. She has worked with faculty development at Bard-Smolny College (St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg, Russia), and has taught in the Bard Masters in Teaching Program. Rachel is also a writer, with recent publications in the Adelaide Literary Journal; an attorney, and a practitioner of Restorative Justice. She received her B.A. in English Literature from Harvard University. She is very excited to be discussing, thinking and writing about the great texts in First Year Seminar.
 

Nesrin Ersoy McMeekin is a Visiting Instructor in the Humanities at Bard College, teaching the First-Year Seminar since Fall 2014; and at Bard Early College-Hudson Valley since Fall 2017. 

Born in Bulgaria, and emigrated to Turkey as a child, Nesrin specializes in Early Turkish Republican era-specifically in its relations with the Soviet Union, and Turkish Emigration from Bulgaria during the 20^th century.  Her first book Turkey’s Relations with the Bolsheviks (1919-1922) was published by VDM Publishing House Ltd., in 2009.
 
Prior to Bard, Nesrin taught Turkish Culture and History at Koc University in Istanbul, Turkey from 2012 to 2014; and History of the Republic of Turkey at Bilkent University in Ankara from 2007 to 2012.   She enjoys teaching FYSEM and having lively conversations on our texts.
 

Molly J. Freitas is Associate Dean of Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Humanities at Bard.  Molly’s greatest passion is helping students to develop the skills and confidence necessary to achieve their academic, personal, and professional goals.  As Associate Dean of Studies, she provides supplemental advising on various forms of academic enrichment and excellence, including for students applying for prestigious scholarships such as the Rhodes and Fulbright and those interested in study abroad programs and independent studies.  As a faculty member, she teaches personal narrative, first-year seminar, and literature classes at Bard. 

Molly holds a Ph.D. from Tufts University and an M.A. from Georgetown University, both in English.  Prior to coming to Bard, Molly was an Assistant Professor of English and led the prestigious scholarship program at West Point, the United States Military Academy.  She has also taught literature, critical thinking, and professional development courses at Tufts University, Emerson College, and the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a book editor at Oxford University Press.  A feminist literary critic by training, Molly published an academic book, From Subjection to Survival:  The Artistry of American Women Writers (Routledge 2023), on aesthetics and American women writers; her scholarly articles have also appeared in American Literary Realism, Soundings, and Studies in the Novel.  She lives in Beacon, NY with her husband and two young daughters, who are the light of her life. 

 

Antonio Ortiz is a Visiting Instructor in the Humanities at Bard College, teaching Language and Thinking (L&T) and First Year Seminar (FYSEM). Antonio graduated from Bard College in 2018 with a BA in Economics, specializing in macroeconomic policy and the economic history of Latin America. After graduating from Bard, he attended Yale Divinity School where he earned his Master of Divinity degree in 2023. During his time at Yale, Antonio's research focused on the Hebrew Bible; in particular, how biblical narratives of violence were used to construct communal identity in ancient Israel, and surrounding ancient West Asian cultures. In addition to his teaching role, Antonio is also a Program Associate in the Office of the Dean of the College, working directly with the Associate Vice President for Academic Initiatives and Associate Dean of the College, Nicholas Alton Lewis, on building a climate of inclusion and community at Bard College. Outside of academia, Antonio is a practicing Buddhist, and an avid soccer fan.

Seth Halvorson is an interdisciplinary scholar and educator; a passionate and award-winning teacher whose work spans philosophy, history, technology, education, ethics, care, and humor.  He teaches in Bard’s First Year Seminar and is Professor of AI and Society at Bard NYC. He is also Senior AI Ethicist at SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Artificial Intelligence Exploration Center.  In the classroom, Halvorson is known for his engaging teaching style and making complex ideas accessible. He has taught L&T for many years.

Beyond academia, he threatens to practice his banjo publicly.  Inspired by his teachers, Halvorson applies ethical reasoning to contemporary issues. Before Bard, he worked to build a school in Toronto and founded BHSEC-Newark.  He has advocated for the emancipatory powers of dialogue since teaching in Columbia’s Core Curriculum, first as a graduate student, and then later as a Lecturer in Philosophy.  He has a Ph.D. from Columbia, a M.A. from Stanford, and a B.A. from Macalester College. 
 

Academic Director, Center for Foreign Languages and Cultures; Coordinator, Foreign Languages and Literature Program
 

Stephanie Kufner is Visiting Associate Professor of German Studies at Bard College. Originally, from Germany, she has lived in the US for almost 35 years and came to Bard in 1990. She has taught FYSEM regularly for over 10 years, and is excited to be part of this year’s new FYSEM team and curriculum.  Prof. Kufner enjoys teaching intensive language and culture classes on various levels, German literature and theater, and for many years helped students produce bilingual German/English theater plays. In her role as Academic Director of the Bard Language Center, Prof. Kufner hires an international staff of up to 20 students. They help provide the Bard Community with a wide range of carefully researched academic, cultural and popular language resources, study- and self-evaluation tools, as well as course –specific supplements for learners on any level in all languages taught at Bard. Do stop by any time to say hi or if interested apply for a job!

Gabriella Lindsay is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Division of Languages and Literature. She specializes in intersections between aesthetics, politics and ethics in 20th and 21st century literature, thought and culture in French. She is currently working on a book on representations of sexual violence and the afterlives of the Algerian War.

Nabanjan Maitra migrated to the U.S. from India in 2000, at the age of fifteen. Since then, he has been trying to figure out who he is. The pursuit of that question has brought him back to the classroom and to teaching. After graduating from college, Nabanjan taught Special Education in Washington D.C. for a few years before realizing that it was too hard. Since entering graduate school, Nabanjan has been interested in the role of teaching in forming subjects (citizens, disciples, initiates). Specifically, he is interested to study and describe the techniques that monastic institutions, in medieval and premodern India, developed to govern their subjects, and what these techniques and practices might tell us about the ways in which monastic power operates. Nabanjan prefers spending the summer months playing cricket in England. 

Roosevelt was born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States as a teenager.  He attended public schools in New York City (Queens) and then Columbia College, where he studied Comparative Literature. In 2003, he completed a Ph.D. in English, also at Columbia University, where served in various faculty and administrative capacities until 2025.  Roosevelt is the founding director of Bard’s Chang Chavkin Center for Liberal Education and Civic Life and author of Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation (Princeton University Press, 2021).  He specializes in American political thought and literature is also author of Becoming America: Four Documents That Shaped a Nation (forthcoming, Princeton University Press, 2026) and co-editor of The Princeton Readings American Political Thought (forthcoming, Princeton University Press, 2026). 

Jamal is a Visiting Faculty Member who has been at Bard since Winter Intersession 2024. Though he has taught L&T and CitSci in the past, as well as Seminar at the BEC in Hudson, NY, this will be his first time teaching First Year Seminar at the College this fall! They look forward to developing relationships with new students as they figure out their independent and autonomous lives in this time and space beyond high school and other pre-Bard commitments.

Outside of Bard, Jamal is a practicing LMSW Psychotherapist at SYNC Psychological Services, PLLC and looks forward to their coming ordination as a minister in the American Baptist Churches USA tradition. Feel free to talk to Jamal about anything related to meaning-making, co-creation, or identity development when you see him this fall!

A three-decade member of Bard’s Classical Studies Program, James Romm specializes in Ancient Greek history, language and culture. His most recent book, Plato and the Tyrant, focuses on troubling aspects of Plato’s life story that are reflected in his Republic and help explain its condemnation of tyranny as the worst of political evils.  He is especially interested in the historical and biographical contexts of literary texts, and edits a biography series called Ancient Lives for Yale University Press

Kay Shirley is the Dean of Students at Bard College. She holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The University of Texas at Austin and earned her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College. Her scholarly work focuses on Russian, French, and German literature and philosophy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She taught literature, writing, as well as Russian and French language courses at the University of Texas. Before transitioning into student affairs, she founded Inside Literature, a Texas-based nonprofit organization that conducts literature courses in correctional facilities. At Bard, she is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and intellectually vibrant campus culture grounded in critical inquiry, mentorship, and meaningful student connection. 

I was raised in a tiny town in Missouri and studied English in college. After finishing degrees at the University of Missouri, I moved to the South for a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I received a Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
 
I love helping students become more confident writers. At Bard I teach academic writing courses and, as Associate Director for Library Writing Support, coach students individually, help Senior Project writers, and organize writing and research workshops. As a teacher of FYSEM, I believe what you learned in L&T: that writing exploratorily before, during, and after reading will help you think more deeply and creatively about what you read.
 
Things I’m partial to? The history and literature of early modern England, particularly the tumultuous middle decades of the 17th century. Fiction (current faves are 19th-century Russian novels and young adult fantasy). The movies of Mike Leigh and Preston Sturges. And writing, natch, though it doesn’t come easily. I often want to tear my hair out, but I can think of few pursuits as deeply satisfying.

Bill Walker is at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College where he directs Library and Research activities.  He is currently involved in working closely with the Masters students there, especially in the writing and editing of their theses.  Prior to coming to Bard, Bill worked in Professional and Reference Publishing in NYC for over 25 years as a writer, editor, and Publisher.

The Rev. Mary Grace Williams, Chaplain of the College/Dean of Community Life, came to Bard College in 2016 and has taught FYSEM each semester since the spring of 2018. In the summer of 2023 she also joined the faculty for Language and Thinking (L&T).  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.  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 is excited to be part of the faculty for FYSEM and L&T where she gets to work closely with first year students.