Speakers

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Roger Berkowitz

Roger Berkowitz is Founder and Academic Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and Professor of Politics, Philosophy, and Human Rights at Bard College. He is the author of Perils of Invention: Lying, Technology and the Human Condition (Blackrose Books, 2022) and The Gift of Science: Leibniz and the Modern Legal Tradition (Harvard, 2005, Fordham, 2010; Chinese Law Press 2011). He is the editor of On Civil Disobedience: Henry David Thoreau and Hannah Arendt (Library of America, 2024). He hosts the podcast, "Reading Hannah Arendt with Roger Berkowitz."

Berkowitz is co-editor of Thinking in Dark Times: Hannah Arendt on Ethics and Politics (2009), The Intellectual Origins of the Global Financial Crisis (2012) and Artifacts of Thinking: Reading Hannah Arendt's Denktagebuch (2017). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The American Interest, Bookforum, The Paris Review Online, and many other publications. He is the winner of the 2024 Compassion Prize given by Con-solatio, and the 2019 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Bremen.

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Antonio Castillo

Antonio Castillo, Bard MBA ’24, is the founder of Ceiba Coffee Solutions, a company that focuses on creating YouTube content that tells the stories of small coffee farmers and their sustainable farming practices. As a passionate coffee enthusiast, Antonio's journey began with a dream to open a coffee shop but soon evolved into a mission to understand the stark inequalities that exist in the coffee industry. Over the past three years, he has delved into the coffee value chain, uncovering how profits disproportionately benefit businesses in the Global North while small farmers in the Global South struggle with poverty and limited bargaining power.

Antonio's research has taken him to coffee-growing regions in Chiapas, Oaxaca, and El Salvador, where he has connected directly with small-scale farmers. His fieldwork has deepened his understanding of the importance of shade-grown coffee practices, environmental stewardship, and the social and economic challenges faced by small producers. Through his storytelling, Antonio offers a comprehensive view of the persistent inequities within the coffee commodity value chain. In his TEDx Talk, Antonio aims to shed light on the structural issues in the global coffee economy and critically examine market-based solutions that often fall short of driving meaningful change. He seeks to provide a clear perspective on why these power imbalances endure and how they can be addressed. Through his advocacy, Antonio hopes to build bridges that connect all of us to seek for effective reforms, empowering producers and ensuring a fairer distribution of value throughout the coffee supply chain.

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Ashley Eugley

Ashley Eugley is a proponent of uniting science, policy, and collaboration to build climate resilience. Originally from a close-knit fishing community in coastal Maine, Ashley earned a BA in environmental and urban studies from Bard College in 2022. In 2022, Ashley was awarded a Watson Fellowship for her project “Community Science as Community Agency.” During her Watson Fellowship, Ashley spent a year solo-traveling across five continents to explore how community-based science may be leveraged to monitor the impacts of climate change, combat environmental injustice, enhance community resilience, and bolster agency. Upon her return to the US, she supported mid-coast Maine communities by devising climate adaptation and resilience strategies. Ashley is currently a graduate student in Environmental Management at the Yale School of the Environment.

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Ifigeneia Gianne

Ifigeneia Gianne, born and raised in Athens, Greece, is a rising senior at Bard College majoring in anthropology and theater. She is the co-founder of Creative Play, a project that received the Davis Projects for Peace Award, which brought storytelling workshops to refugee communities in Malaysia through music, theater, and podcasting. Alongside her work with Creative Play, Ifigeneia collaborates with the Burmese Rohingya Community of Wisconsin, further exploring the struggles faced by refugees through resettlement, which is also the focus of her senior thesis in Anthropology.

A passionate theater maker, Ifigeneia has directed Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and co-directed and acted in The Ant Play, which she wrote herself. She was named the Stephen P. Snyder '62 Scholar for the 2024-2025 academic year and is committed to exploring the intersection of art and social studies, particularly through the lenses of activism and volunteering.

More About Creative Play

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TJ Kostecky

TJ Kostecky is the lead innovator of Vision Training, a leadership development program that empowers individuals to discover their full potential and form meaningful connections through subtle shifts in perspective. His academic career, which spans three decades and six universities, has seen him in diverse roles such as a coach, athletic director, professor, and entrepreneur, each contributing to his unique perspective on leadership. TJ published his self-help book Eyes Up! in 2024. He is currently the Head Men’s Soccer Coach and Co-founder of the Bard Leadership program at Bard College. In 2020, he was inducted into the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame. TJ resides in Tivoli, NY, where he enjoys longboarding through the village streets, hiking the Catskill Mountains, and engaging everyone he meets in conversation.

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Joseph Luzzi

Joseph Luzzi received his PhD from Yale University and is the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard College, where he also teaches courses on film and Italian Studies. He is the author of five books, including his most recent work, Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance (Norton, 2022), a New Yorker Best Book of 2022 selection that was shortlisted for the Phi Beta Kappa Ralph Waldo Emerson Award. His other books include Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy (Yale University Press, 2008), which received the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies, and A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), a finalist for the international prize “The Bridge Book” Award. Joseph’s honors include a Wallace Fellowship from Villa I Tatti, the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award, and fellowships from the National Humanities Center and Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center. The first American-born child in his Italian immigrant family, Joseph was named Cittadino Onorario/Honorary Citizen of Acri, Calabria, in 2017. A widely sought after speaker, Joseph has presented worldwide on literature, art, film, and the power of the humanities.

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Richard Lopez

Richard Lopez received his PhD in psychological and brain sciences from Dartmouth College. He was an assistant professor of psychology at Bard for three years and now teaches and conducts research at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. Dr. Lopez is trained in social neuroscience, a newer field of neuroscience that examines links between the mind, brain, and social behaviors. Recently, Dr. Lopez and his students have been studying how young people experience and regulate their emotions in online settings, and how some individuals may be at higher risk for developing anxiety and depression based on how they use social media. His talk at TEDx Bard 2025 will focus on how we can reimagine social media platforms to promote digital wellness and nurture our shared humanity.

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Rolena Richardson

Rolena Richardson (she/her) is an artist, designer, and nature advocate originally from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, now residing in the Finger Lakes region of New York, on Haudenosaunee land. Since 2020, Rolena has been exploring and practicing intentional circular living while advocating for slow and empathetic consumerism, a philosophy that promotes mindful consumption by prioritizing sustainability, quality, and human connection over low cost and convenience. Her dedication to these principles earned her a place in the Start.coop Business Incubator for Rural Entrepreneurs, where she deepened her focus on developing a cooperative business model that empowers indigenous artisans in the US to achieve entrepreneurial success in the digital economy. Drawing from her experiences, Rolena will highlight the importance of cultivating meaningful connections with the land and the artisans who create our belongings. She aims to inspire the audience to reflect on how they can build cultural bridges and embrace sustainable lifestyles that resist the pressures of mass-market capitalism, while enriching our collective humanity.

Rolena holds a BS in applied economics and management from Cornell University and an MBA in Sustainability from Bard College. She is a dedicated volunteer for the Ganondagan White Corn Project, contributing to food sovereignty efforts for indigenous communities in Western New York, and currently serves as a committee chair on the Bard MBA Alumni Board.
 

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Zarlasht Sarmast

Zarlasht Sarmast completed her undergraduate degree at the American University of Central Asia in the Department of International and Comparative Politics in 2020. While studying at AUCA, Zar worked for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) in Bishkek as a communications specialist. Previously, Zar served as spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan. She also worked with United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and was part of many different peace building projects. 

Zar finished her first Master’s degree at the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE Academy), department of International Relations and Security. She recently finished her second Master’s at AUCA in the Department of Applied Psychology. She played an important role in the evacuation of Afghan students from AUCA and AUAF from Kabul to Bishkek, which inspired her to author her first photo story book, A Journey from Kabul to Bishkek, followed by a second titled Our Journey to Bard. She has spoken at the World Bank Spring Meetings on the importance of education for Afghan women. Currently, Zar works as the Business Manager for the Bard NYC program and she is the Program Coordinator of the Global Engagement Fellows at Bard's Center for Civic Engagement. 

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Raahim Waqas

Raahim Waqas Khan is a sophomore studying political science and psychology at Bard College at Simon's Rock. Born and Raised in Lahore, Pakistan, Raahim is a member of the General Assembly of the Council for Equity and Inclusion at Bard College, as well as the student representative on the Academic Senate: Policy and Program committee. Raahim has an extensive background in debate, Model UN and student advocacy. His research interests lie in student movements and the anthropology of international conflicts. Raahim looks forward to bringing his experiences in student advocacy and community inclusion to bridge the gaps between generations and highlight the importance and effects of student led movements for the socioeconomic and political climate of the future.

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Stacy Burnett

Stacy Burnett is a graduate from the Bard Graduate Center, Class of 2023, with an MBA in sustainability and nonprofit management. She manages JSTOR Access in Prison in North America and Australia, is a nationally recognized expert on prison technology and correctional food systems, and contributes to national policy decisions about the student debt of incarcerated borrowers. She began her education at Bard Prison Initiative, was a BPI Public Health Fellow ’21, and was responsible for the NYC multiagency task force overseeing the COVID-19 response in the public school system during the pandemic.

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Alejandro Crawford

Alejandro Juárez Crawford serves as co-founder and CEO of RebelBase, professor of entrepreneurship at Bard College’s #1-rated MBA in Sustainability, and global faculty chair for OSUN’s Certificate in Sustainability and Social Enterprise. His work focuses on democratizing access to innovation ecosystems and equipping people around the world to build solutions to local and global problems. He will host the upcoming podcast series “What if Instead” on ITSP Magazine. He holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business and a BA from Cornell University. 

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Aleksandar Demetriades

Aleksandar “Aleks” Demetriades is a junior studying politics and public health at Bard College. Originally from Miami Beach, Florida, Aleks currently serves as senior communications intern for the Open Society University Civic Engagement Initiative. Additionally, Aleks cofounded and currently runs Beyond 30 Campus Road, an initiative geared towards creating spaces for students to meet with peers and grapple with local and international sociopolitical issues. Aleks’ previous experience includes working as the program head for Election@Bard and serving as administrative aide for Miami-Dade County School Board member Lucia Baez-Geller. Aleks is excited to bring his backgrounds in student mobilization and community engagement to the forefront as he speaks about the value of student labor organizing and Gen Z’s mobilization efforts.

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Anastasia Dzutstsati

Anastasia Dzutstsati is a journalist, filmmaker, human rights activist, and a TSI Fellow (OSUN) pursuing an MA in Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. Born in Moscow, Russia, Anastasia worked as a multimedia journalist at Current Time TV (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty). They fled Russia in the summer of 2021 due to death threats and increasing risks linked to their work. Anastasia’s research interests focus on the nature of Russian autocracy, the state of independent journalism, LGBTQ+ rights, drug policy in Russia, and the war in Ukraine. They graduated with a BA in journalism from the University of Kent in the United Kingdom and were a scholar of the New York Film Academy and Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom.

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Ahed Festuk

Ahed Festuk is an activist from Aleppo, Syria, and is recognized as one of the pioneering women demonstrators. In the midst of the escalating war, Ahed fearlessly served as a paramedic on the frontlines, selflessly attending to the injured and providing critical medical assistance. Her unwavering commitment to her community led her to remain in Aleppo until late November 2015, working tirelessly to alleviate the suffering caused by the Syrian regime and its allies, Russia and Iran.

Driven by her passion for humanitarianism, Ahed actively collaborated with local organizations, lending her support to their efforts in providing essential relief to those affected by the war. Additionally, Ahed undertook the vital responsibility of training responders in hostile environments and equipping them with first aid skills within Aleppo City. Her efforts empowered women to protect themselves and harness their own strength amidst challenging circumstances.

In 2016, Ahed applied for asylum in the United States, and her dedication to aiding displaced individuals remained steadfast. She joined the Multifaith Alliance in 2018, where she played a crucial role in facilitating the delivery of aid to those in need, particularly the Syrian population. Simultaneously, Ahed embarked on a transformative educational journey, pursuing her bachelor's degree as an adult returning student at Bard College, majoring in sociology and politics. Her acceptance into the Bard Baccalaureate program attests to her intellectual prowess and commitment to academic excellence. 

Ahed's unusual life experiences and unyielding dedication to humanitarian causes have shaped her into an advocate for peace, justice, and social change. She encourages individuals to recognize their personal strengths and how to overcome challenging circumstances and transform the challenge to empower people to become fearless and active participants in making a difference.

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Eban Goodstein

Eban Goodstein is vice president for environmental and social leadership at Bard College, where he directs the Graduate Programs in Sustainability (GPS). Degree options at GPS include the MBA in sustainability based in NYC, ranked the number one green MBA and among the top 10 MBAs in the US for nonprofit management for 2021–23 by the Princeton Review; MS degrees in environmental policy and in climate science and policy; and an MEd in environmental education. 

Goodstein works to help young people build careers as change agents in these three key fields: changing minds (education); changing the rules (policy); and changing the game (sustainable business). Goodstein writes and speaks frequently about just solutions to climate change, arguing that regardless of our pathway, we all need to become “climate repair people”—some of us full-time, everyone part-time.

Professor Goodstein holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, and a BA in geology from Williams College. He is the author of numerous articles and three books: Economics and the Environment, now in its ninth edition; Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming, and The Trade-off Myth: Fact and Fiction about Jobs and the Environment. He serves on the editorial board of Sustainability: The Journal of Record, and was a member of the board of directors of the Follett Corporation.

Goodstein has also coordinated global educational events and trainings around climate change, engaging thousands of colleges, universities, and K–12 schools in solutions-based dialogue. The most recent case: the WorldWide Climate and Justice Education Week set for April 2024. At Bard he also directs C2C Fellows, a network of young people who aspire to sustainability leadership in business, NGOs, and government. 

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Lauren E. Graham

Lauren E. Graham is a social entrepreneur, environmentalist, and educator with an eclectic background in environment and sustainability, social innovation and entrepreneurship, and creative media (documentary film, music, games, and virtual reality) for public engagement. 

Graham is currently the chief of staff at Hunger Free America, a NYC-based national antihunger advocacy and direct service nonprofit working to end domestic hunger. In this role, she supports the CEO with managing all aspects of the organization, providing leadership for daily operations, managing strategic planning and staff professional development, and overseeing hiring. 

She is also the CEO of Velvet Frame, a social impact strategy and communications consultancy, founded in 2015. She works with nonprofits, startups, and other mission-driven organizations across the environmental-social impact spectrum on their capacity-building and change management challenges using an ecosystems approach. 

Graham is a part-time adjunct professor teaching a rotation of undergraduate and graduate courses on nonprofit management, leadership, sustainability, and entrepreneurship at Bard College MBA in Sustainability, the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, Baruch College-Zicklin School of Business at the City University of New York (CUNY), the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and the Carbonauts.

Graham holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s in sociology from Stanford University, a master’s in environmental management from Yale School of the Environment, and a master’s in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice.

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Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron

Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron is an ordained Zen priest and professor for spiritual art at Bard College. Originally from Munich (Bavaria, Germany) she has been at Bard for 26 years where she founded the Bard Meditation Group in 2001. Her BA is in French literature on Charles Beaudelaire, her MA in curatorial studies and contemporary culture (CCS alumna, Class of 1999), and her PhD in comparative literature. She is also an interdisciplinary artist in the fields of singing, drawing (including Asian ink painting), crafts, and Japanese tea ceremony. Being on a spiritual quest, she has traveled extensively alone through countries such as Mongolia, Namibia, and the Amazon, seeking authenticity and oneness. 

In her talk Tatjana Myoko will weave her studies of Zen Buddhism together with tales from her personal journey. As a teenager, although coming from a place of privilege, she struggled with depression and eating disorder. Her passionate search for happiness—supported by decades of therapy—was eventually met by the Buddhist teachings of liberation. After studying Zen as a lay practitioner for over 20 years, she took the monastic vows and completed a three year residence in a Soto Zen training monastery in Okayama, Japan. The motivation of sharing her story is rooted in the recognition that this path of transformation is open to everybody, all the time. The process takes courage and determination, but in fact the act of connection is not so difficult—just let go!

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Hannah Park-Kaufmann

Hannah Park-Kaufmann is a senior studying mathematics and piano at Bard College and Conservatory, where she is also president of Bard's Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) chapter. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of music and mathematics, striving to understand the physiological patterns that underlie peak human performance through what may at first glance appear an unlikely subject for mathematical analysis. Originally hailing from Austria and South Korea, Hannah came to the US driven by a deep curiosity and a desire to foster positive change in musician education and health. Drawing upon her own experiences and struggles through the career-crippling posture/movement problems she experienced in piano as a child, she dedicated her college years to exploring innovative pathways for harnessing technology in the study of artistic human motion. Hannah has had the privilege of working with a leading human movement research laboratory at MIT to conduct a study that uses state-of-the-art technology to generate the most precise and extensive rendering of piano playing in history. Her study broadly integrates methods from AI, physics, medical sciences, and mathematics with the traditional schools of pianist education. She is hoping to shed light on the importance of studying motion and patterns at the human scale, and—through harnessing powerful new technology—to delve into its transformative potential to drive meaningful change in a wide array of fields. Through her experiences, she has gained some insights into the hurdles, ethical questions, and opportunities that arise on the path of mixing analytical sciences with something so subjective as artistry. 

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Jillian Reed

Before cofounding Thrift 2 Fight, Jillian Reed was always interested in exploring places where activism and creative expression intersect. Now, working daily with local activists and organizers she admires, and cultivating a welcoming thrift store complete with an abolitionist lending library, she is excited to be co-creating one of those places.

Jillian completed her bachelor of arts in flute performance and human rights at the Bard College. Her studies culminated in research about health and institutional ableism in the music world, which was published in Flutist Quarterly. Jillian performs flute and piccolo regularly with The Orchestra Now, and maintains a vibrant studio of flute students.

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Michael Sadowski

Michael Sadowski is an associate dean of the college at Bard College, where he teaches courses in youth identity development and LGBTQ+ issues in education. In addition to Bard, Michael has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he completed his doctorate, and was a visiting professor at Stanford University in 2016–17.

Michael has published extensively on the issues affecting LGBTQ+ students, immigrant students, and adolescents more broadly. His 2016 book Safe Is Not Enough was featured by NPR and was cited by GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings as “the most important book written on LGBTQ issues in education in my lifetime.” In his TEDx talk, “Safe Is Still Not Enough,” Michael will discuss how educators, families, and communities can help LGBTQ+ youth thrive even amid the recent wave of oppressive state laws that threaten their education, their well-being, and their very identities.

Michael’s other books include In a Queer Voice: Journeys of Resilience from Adolescence to Adulthood (Temple University Press, 2013), based on a seven-year longitudinal interview study, Portraits of Promise: Voices of Successful Immigrant Students (Harvard Education Press, 2013), and the edited volume Adolescents at School (Harvard Education Press, 2020), now in its third edition and used in teacher education programs around the country and abroad. 

In the early 2000s, Michael was editor of the Harvard Education Letter, for which he won a National Press Club Award. He is also a creative nonfiction writer. Michael’s memoir, Men I’ve Never Been, was shortlisted for the William Faulkner–William Wisdom Award for Nonfiction and was named one of the 30 Best Gay and Lesbian Books of All Time by Book Authority.

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Joan Tower

Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today. During a career spanning more than 60 years, she has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States as a composer, performer, conductor, and educator. Her works have been commissioned by major ensembles, soloists, and orchestras, including the Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir quartets; soloists Alisa Weilerstein, Evelyn Glennie, Carol Wincenc, David Shifrin, Paul Neubauer, and John Browning; and the orchestras of Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Nashville, Albany, and Washington DC among others. Her 2021 commissioned premieres included the cello concerto A New Day and the orchestral work 1920/2019.

In 2020, Chamber Music America honored her with its Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award; Musical America chose her to be its 2020 Composer of the Year; in 2019 the League of American Orchestras awarded her its highest honor, the Gold Baton. Tower is the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission of 65 orchestras. Leonard Slatkin and the Nashville Symphony recorded Made in America in 2006 (along with Tambor and Concerto for Orchestra). In 2008 the album collected three Grammy awards: Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral Performance. Nashville’s latest all-Tower recording includes Stroke, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

In 1990 she became the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Silver Ladders, a piece she wrote for the St. Louis Symphony where she was composer in residence from 1985–88. Other residencies with orchestras include a 10-year residency with the Orchestra of St. Luke's (1997–2007) and the Pittsburgh Symphony (2010–11). She was the Albany Symphony’s Mentor Composer partner in the 2013–14 season. Tower was cofounder and pianist for the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players from 1970–85. She has received honorary doctorates from Smith College, the New England Conservatory, and Illinois State University. She is Asher B. Edelman Professor in the Arts at Bard College, where she has taught since 1972.

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Masha Zabara

Masha Zabara grew up in Minsk, Belarus, playing cello, acting, writing, and occasionally skipping classes to attend protests against dictatorial oppression (where they would be caught repeatedly by their own father). After moving to the United States, they studied and worked at Bard College before cofounding Thrift 2 Fight. 

Masha is passionate about finding ways to challenge oppressive systems through community engagement and sustainable action. With Thrift 2 Fight, they aim to support the global movement for climate justice, mutual aid, and the abolition of police and prisons. Ideally, Masha would also like to contribute to toppling any and all dictatorships in (and around) their home country.