Our Faculty – BEC DC

Bard DC faculty members are experienced college professors with a special interest in working with younger students; some come to Bard DC from high schools in the District of Columbia and others from colleges and universities. Approximately two-thirds of full-time faculty members hold a Ph.D. in their discipline, and all permanent, full-time faculty are certified by the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education. Some college electives are taught by adjunct faculty. The student to faculty ratio is 15:1, with an average class size between 22 and 25.

K “Yawa” Agbemabiese

Faculty in Special Education and Global Studies

Victoria Bampoh

Faculty in Chemistry

Andrea Beaudoin-Valenzuela

Faculty in Spanish Language and Culture

Virginia Butler

Faculty in World Literature

Yumin Deng

Faculty in Chinese Language and Culture

Parul Kashyap

Faculty in Biology

Eleanor “Nelly” Lambert

Faculty in American Literature

Carolyn Marcille

Faculty in World Literature

Pedro Rodrigo Marino-Lopez

Faculty in Spanish Language and Culture

John Peasant Jr.

Faculty in Performing Arts

Tongji Phillip “Phil” Qian

Faculty in Visual Arts

Michael Sigrist

Faculty in Global Social Sciences

Daniel Williams

Faculty in Biology

K “Yawa” Agbemabiese

Faculty in Special Education and Global Studies

Program Chair. BA, Ohio State University; MA, PhD, Ohio University.

Dr. K. “Yawa” Agbemabiese is currently faculty of Special Education at Bard DC and teaches elective courses in History and Women and Gender Studies. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Foundations, as well as a graduate certificate in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Ohio University. Dr. Yawa completed a Masters of Art Degree in International Affairs, African Studies from Ohio University, and a Bachelor of Arts in African American and African Studies from The Ohio State University. Her current research focuses on education and gender dynamics amongst the Anlo Ewe of Ghana. Dr. Yawa is the founder of the Charles A. and Norma J. Grooms Education Foundation, which sponsors girls’ education in Abor, Ghana, and the owner of Dunenyo Education and Training Center, Abor, Volta Region of Ghana,West Africa.

Victoria Bampoh

Faculty in Chemistry

BS, MPhil, University of Cape Coast; MS, PhD, Syracuse University.

Dr. Victoria Bampoh grew up in Ghana but in 2006, she moved to America with a scholarship to pursue a PhD program in chemistry at Syracuse University, New York. She completed her doctoral degree in 2012 and was employed as a lecturer at the University of Minnesota, Rochester. At the University of Minnesota, she was involved in Innovative Teaching and Learning research for four years and then moved to Maryland in 2016. She taught chemistry at Bard High School Early College, in Baltimore, from August 2016 to June 2020. Besides teaching, she loves gardening, traveling, playing the piano and singing Christian songs with her husband, Bismark, and son, Benard, every Sunday at church.

Andrea Beaudoin-Valenzuela

Faculty in Spanish Language and Culture

PhD, University of Cincinnati; Literacy Studies, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Andrea Beaudoin Valenzuela is a language, culture and literature teacher originally from Bogotá, Colombia. She holds an MFA in creative writing in Spanish and a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures. Her scholar interests include contemporary Latin American literature, creative writing, gender studies and disability studies. She loves animals, cooking and reading.

Virginia Butler

Faculty in World Literature

PhD, University of Maryland, College Park; BA, The College of William and Mary

Dr. Butler received her Ph.D. in English Literature with a specialization in 19th Century British studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. Before joining Bard DC, she taught courses at both The University of Maryland, where she was awarded the James A. Robinson Award for Teaching Excellence, and Loyola University. Her research interests include narrative closure, postcolonial studies, and gender studies. She is the 2019 winner of the Bruce Harkness Award for scholarship on Joseph Conrad and was a 2021 finalist for the J.H. Stape Prize for best article published for the year in the peer-reviewed journal “Conradiana.”

Yumin Deng

Faculty in Chinese Language and Culture

BS, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University; MEd, Shenzen University.

I have been active in international education in China and the US for over six years, working in both teaching and counseling roles. What motivates me is seeing my students become self-confident learners, seeing them achieve their goals, and watching them develop new language and cross-cultural skills. I hold a master’s degree in Education with a focus on student mental health and a Bachelors in Computer Science. My teaching style draws on this background by bringing technology to the classroom and emphasizing interpersonal student engagement. I’m very excited to part of Bard DC’s community!

Parul Kashyap

Faculty in Biology

PhD, St. John’s University; MS, St. John’s University; MA, CUNY Hunter College; BA, CUNY Hunter College.

I was born and raised in Patna, India and moved to New York in 2002 when I was 13 and have been a New Yorker since then, till I moved to the DMV area this past summer. I got my PhD from St. John’s University in 2018 in Biological Sciences. My doctoral research focused on studying the molecular mechanism of Transient Receptor Protein (TRP), a family of ion channels found all over the different parts of the body that are involved in sensing various sensations, ranging from pressure to heat (from food). During my doctoral studies, I took a year to teach at The NYC Charter High School at AECI in the South Bronx and loved the experience of working with high school age students and brining the accessibility of science closer to them. The experience of working with high school aged students was enriching that led me to teach at the same high school and teach courses in Biology and Epidemiology and then college Forensic Science with a joint collaboration thorough Syracuse University. Along with teaching, I also introduced various STEM focused after school clubs to allow students to have access to science outside of the classroom. Outside the classroom, I enjoy reading books and attending book clubs, going on road trips with my family and my personal mission to explore as many National Parks in the United States.

Eleanor “Nelly” Lambert

Faculty in American Literature

PhD, Catholic University of America; MA, St. John’s College, Annapolis; MA, Georgetown University; AB, The University of Chicago

Nelly Lambert has been teaching literature and philosophy for the Bard Early College network since 2015 and is a Faculty Associate with Bard College’s Institute for Writing and Thinking. She specializes in comparative poetry, modernism, Shakespeare, and philosophical and spiritual approaches to literature; after completing her doctorate on humor in poetry, she spent seven years coediting a multi-genre 1920s South Asian hagiography, supported by a grant from the Library of Congress. Dr. Lambert has received additional fellowship awards from the Lannan Foundation, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the American Association of University Women and is presently focused on a collaborative book about the inspiring work of fellow teachers. Passionate about leading students to think authentically, deeply, and fairly, Dr. Lambert has special love for Bard because nowhere else can you learn so rigorously and playfully in the same beat.

Carolyn Marcille

Faculty in World Literature

PhD, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; BA, SUNY Fredonia.

Hello! I’m Dr. Marcille, and I love working for Bard High School Early Colleges. I have wanted to be a teacher my whole life, and being able to give free college education to my students is the most rewarding daily work I can possibly imagine. My academic work has to do with science fiction in South Asia, and the study of how the science fiction literature of colonized places is necessarily different than the West.

Pedro Rodrigo Marino-Lopez

Faculty in Spanish Language and Culture

Literacy Studies, Universidad Nacional de Colombia; MFA, Universidad Nacional de Colombia; PhD, University of Cincinnati.

PhD in Romance and Arabic Languages and Literatures (Spanish), with a Graduate Certificate in Film Studies from the University of Cincinnati. M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the National University of Colombia, and B.A in Literary Studies from this same university. Previously worked in the fields of academic publishing, translation and second language acquisition. His research interests include contemporary Latin American literature, contemporary Colombian narrative, creative writing, digital humanities, and film studies. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia.

John Peasant Jr.

Faculty in Performing Arts

BME, Alabama State University; MM, University of Tennessee; PhD, University of Florida.

A native of Cataula, Georgia, Dr. Peasant recently completed doctoral studies in music education at the University of Florida. His research areas involve the use of digital games in the music classroom and social justice with music education pedagogy. As an educator, Dr. Peasant has experience teaching music in grade levels from Kindergarten to college for over a decade. As a saxophonist, he predominately performed throughout the First Coast of Florida within classical and commercial settings. He has played under the baton of Frank Ticheli, Jack Stamp, Richard Saucedo, and other composers. Dr. Peasant has also shared the stage with artists such as Frankie Beverly and Maze, Kem, the Whispers, and many other R&B artists.

Tongji Phillip “Phil” Qian

Faculty in Visual Arts

BA, Carleton College; MFA, Rhode Island School of Design.

Tongji Philip Qian is a visual artist and the founder of TPQ Studio. His artwork addresses the limit of an artistic practice through drawings, prints, and “prepared” sculptures. His writing on teaching and art criticism, on the other hand, focuses on conditions of students, institutions, contexts, and variations. Qian received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and his BA from Carleton College.

Michael Sigrist

Faculty in Global Social Sciences

BA, MA, Miami University; PhD, SUNY Stony Brook.

Dr. Michael J. Sigrist trained in philosophy and has a special interest in the philosophy of history. His research focus and publications range over topics in ethics, value theory, personal identity, and the philosophy of literature. He is co-editor of Time and the Philosophy of Action published by Routledge in 2016. After living in Germany doing research at the University of Cologne, Dr. Sigrist moved to DC to teach philosophy in the Philosophy Department at George Washington University. He has also previously taught at American University and George Mason University. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Miami University, and a PhD from Stony Brook University. He lives with his three children in a beautiful neighborhood in Ward 7.

Daniel Williams

Faculty in Biology

PhD, Columbia University; BA, Rutgers University.

I have a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with experience in higher education for 20 years. I have done neuroscience research published in peer reviewed journals. I have taught Biology (General Biology, Genetics, Anatomy & Physiology, and other courses) at many different schools, including Winston-Salem St Univ and Brooklyn College/CUNY. I enjoy a good baseball game, science fiction, taking long walks, and would like to travel more. I am originally from southern New Jersey, so if I sound funny saying “water” or “hot dog” you now know why.