Liz Berk / At the ULC since 2011

I'm in my final year of coursework in NSSR's clinical psychology PhD program. For my BA, I went to Sarah Lawrence College, where I studied psychology and visual arts.

Specialty Areas:

Psychology and APA style; visual arts; strengthening papers through better organization

Hobbies:

Reading, cooking

Interesting Facts:

I was on Cash Cab!

Jim Briggs / At ULC since 2006

About Me:

I'm from Fredonia, New York, a small town near Buffalo, and now live in Brooklyn. I teach audio production classes and tutor at The New School, part of a triple life that also includes the roles of sound engineer and proud father.

Specialty Areas:

Sound, film, radio, music, media, literature, sports

Hobbies:

Cycling, writing and making music, playing and watching sports (I'm a big fan of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, and Toronto Blue Jays.)

Interesting Facts:

I have worked as an engineer on records by R.E.M. and Paul Simon, radio broadcasts on WNYC, and television documentaries for PBS. I married my high school sweetheart, Jenny, in 2003, and our daughter Annea Rose was born on Valentine's Day 2009.

Jesse Day / At ULC since 2007

About Me:

I am an ESL and writing instructor, teaching classes at Parsons and The New School for Public Engagement.

Specialty Areas:

Formal and visual analysis; ESL (particularly organization, voice, and grammar); developing and deepening a paper's focus

Hobbies:

Playing bass, guitar, piano, and drums; singing in punk and folk bands; reading books; trying to do yoga

Interesting Facts:

I'm from California, and have lived in Spain and the Czech Republic. I learned to whistle at age 28. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't learn new things.

Art/Design Achievements:

Author of The Art and Design Handbook, a guide to visual language specifically geared to international students studying in the United States.

Ann DeWitt / At ULC since 2010

About Me:

I'm a Brooklyn-based writer and editor interested in exploring the relationship between image and text. I have an MFA in fiction writing and a BA in psychology, and I've studied abroad in London at Goldsmith's College in the Art and Society Program. I teach Critical Reading and Writing I and II at Parsons, and have been a guest writer for BombMagazine.com, art+culture.com, and Esquire.com, amongst others.

Specialty Areas:

Critical reading and writing, literary criticism and theory, the narrative essay, art semiotics

Hobbies:

Photography, piano, film, yoga, French, Spanish

Interesting Facts:

My parents named my first pet cow "Sweetmeat," which inspired 25 years of vegetarianism. I currently have a pet Bengal kitten named Woodstock. Several friends and I edit a small Brooklyn-based magazine called Gigantic, which publishes short prose and art.

Jake Hanin / at ULC since 2011

About Me:

I'm a second year MA student in sociology. I majored in English as an undergraduate. I am a Gemini. I have studied abroad (Argentina) and worked abroad (Spain) as an English teacher. I come from the little understood state of Maine, where the motto is "The Way Life Should Be."

Specialty Areas:

Critical writing; ESL; literary criticism and theory.

Hobbies:

Pretending I know how to fix things; all arts and crafts; ultimate frizzlebizzle; basketball; guitar/banjo; chess; hardcore journaling; over-dosing on coffee.

Interesting Facts:

I once had a pet pig named Susan; I have played pick-up basketball on four continents; I'm the only person I know who is neither a "dog person" nor a "cat person."

Emma Komlos-Hrobsky / At the ULC since 2008

About Me:

I'm an ESL specialist tutor and a graduate of the New School's MFA program in fiction writing. When not teaching at the ULC, I work as a junior editor at the literary magazine Tin House.

Specialty Areas:

Art and art history; critical reading and writing; literature and literary theory; fiction writing. My own academic research centers around Sylvia Plath. Ask me anything about her!

Hobbies:

Writing, illustrating, doing masala bhangra, making Halloween costumes.

Interesting Facts:

I was once asked to audition for a reality television show. I politely declined the offer.

Jaclyn Lovell / At ULC since 2009

About Me:

I've lived all over the world, but I still speak with a Wisconsin accent.

Specialty Areas:

English, creative writing, psychology

Hobbies:

Stories, piano, karaoke, farming

Interesting Facts:

I taught English in Korea for two years and in Taiwan for one.  I took a slow boat to China and will never do that again. I am an expert at building snowmen and snow forts (again, I grew up in Wisconsin.)

Anna Matthiesen / At ULC since 2009

About Me:

I do a lot of school: Towson University, Baltimore; Universidad Complutense, Madrid; Nishinomiya Kabutoyama Koukou, Hyogo-Ken, Japan; University of Bologna, Forli Campus, Italy; University of Belgrade, Serbia; and now here at The New School for Social Research.

Specialty Areas:

Theory, ethnography, ESL, all things Balkan

Hobbies:

Reading on the train, waiting in line at grocery stores and cinemas, resisting the desire to watch reality television

Interesting Facts:

I am able to balance competing loyalties to the following sports teams: the Orioles, Ravens, Hanshin Tigers, and Partizan Belgrade.

Beth Milner / At ULC since 2006

About Me:

I teach ESL and specialize in writing. I very much enjoy working with ESL students.

Specialty Areas:

Helping ESL students write clear and fluent English

Hobbies:

Piano, competitive tennis, running, skiing, reading

Interesting Facts:

I'm from Massachusetts.

Robin Muller / At ULC since 2007

About Me:

I'm a PhD student in philosophy. I also have a master's degree in theoretical linguistics. I'm a bit of a grammar nerd.

Specialty Areas:

Philosophy, literature

Hobbies:

Eating, reading, charades

Interesting Facts:

I hate bananas. I've visited 33 countries so far: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia

Jeremy Scott / At ULC since 2003

About Me:

I received an MA in Linguistics from the University of Florida in 2002, and have been teaching ESL at Parsons since then. Throughout my years at The New School, I've also been a tutor, administrator, and advisor.

Specialty Areas:

ESL, Linguistics, Music recording and production.

Hobbies:

Biking, music recording/producing/mixing, playing music (bass, synthesizers, drums, trombone), DIY electronics.

Interesting Facts:

I also run a recording studio and work at a handful of other studios around the city

Victoria Somogyi / At ULC since 2007

About Me:

I was born in New York and graduated from Harvard and Columbia, where I studied architecture. I teach English as a second language (ESL) at Parsons.

Specialty Areas:

ESL, architecture and fine arts, professional writing, popular culture, women's writing, linguistics

Hobbies:

Writing, digital gaming, food

Interesting Facts:

I own two pet rats.

Eric Syverson / At ULC since 2010

About Me:

I'm a second year MA student in Liberal Studies at NSSR. I'm originally from Michigan, went to school in northern California, and taught EFL in Casablanca, Morocco.

Specialty Areas:

Literature, humanities, geography, ESL

Hobbies:

Book collecting, downhill skiing, backpacking/forest walking/orienteering, art/film/literary criticism, ecology, ultimate frisbee, soccer

Interesting Facts:

My life was once saved by a mountain goat.

Max Tremblay / At ULC since 2010

About Me:

I'm a mild-mannered PhD student in philosophy, born and bred in San Francisco. At the end of the day, I remove this disguise and am the co-editor of White Riot: Punk Rock & the Politics of Race(Verso, 2011) and the drummer for SLEEPiES.

Specialty Areas:

Philosophy (political, 20th-century continental, early modern); feminist theory; critical race theory.

Hobbies:

Bands 'n' records 'n' records 'n' bands; getting excited during televised sporting events; trying to convince people to read the "SCUM Manifesto"; Batman.

Interesting Facts:

Sammy Hagar once asked me how I was doing; I know Left Eye's "Waterfalls" verse by heart.