Faculty
Recruited from among Skidmore’s most accomplished professors, MALS faculty serve as seminar leaders, independent study directors, and faculty advisors. Many are drawn to the program by the chance to work with students marked by a rich experience and keen seriousness. One professor recently described his independent study with a new student (whose concentration focuses on the political implications of media portrayals of Islam) as “one of my most rewarding teaching experiences at the College.”
He was this 50-year-old investment banker, and the questions he asked came straight
out of left field—straight out of his own, particular, individual experience—out of
all the things he’d learned about the world. And because those weren’t the kind of
questions I was used to hearing from my undergrads, the course was a crucial experience
for me as a teacher. It kept me on my toes. It made my brain nimble. That student
got me outside my box.
John Anzalone, Professor of Foreign Languages & Literatures
This week was some of the best teaching I’ve ever done. We were all past our comfort
zones, in a less predictable territory. Because we weren’t able to operate by habit,
we had to pay sharper attention to what was in front of us.
Sarah Goodwin, Professor of English
Something had happened so that the course wasn’t just about reading and discussing
a historical document. We were thinking about who we are and who we really hope to
be—as much as we were about the meaning of the words on the page. This is what these
students taught me.
Beau Breslin, Interim Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs
