Meet the Faculty
Bill Ehrhart
Honorable Discharge USMC, B.A. Swarthmore College, M.A. Univ. of Illinois, Ph.D, Univ. of Wales
Why I Teach
Headmaster Joe Cox asked me to teach for one semester when a teacher had to retire on medical disability. That was January 2001. I’m still here. Right job at the right time in my life. I am kind of like the utility infielder for the humanities, having taught everything from all-English to all-history and every combination in between. Teaching is the only job I’ve ever done that gives me the same emotional satisfaction I get when I’ve written a good poem.
Favorite Film
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Favorite Book
Moby Dick
Fun Fact
As far as I know, I am the only man who ever got a four-year award from the Swarthmore College Women’s Physical Education Department: I did water ballet for four years.
Brendon Jobs
B.A. Columbia University; M.S.Ed. University of Pennsylvania; James Madison Fellowship, Georgetown University
Why I Teach
As a means to promote social awareness, connectedness, and agency.
Inquiry drives thinking and intellectual interaction in my classroom. Historical education is now about the process of learning to think like a historian (Wineburg, 2001). I want students to “do” history. What are the right questions to ask? What is the most valid and appropriate information needed to address that question? In order for students to be fully affected by their history education, they must take an active role in creating that knowledge (Vygotsky).
Favorite Books
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Invisible Man by Richard Wright, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Fun Fact
I know some of the most obscure music lyrics and gain a lot of energy from quiet spaces. I’m a first generation American from Trinidad and Tobago.
Brian Long
B.S. Villanova University
Why I Teach
A love for guiding and working with students as they embark on their own educational journeys while fulfilling my own intellectual curiosities
Favorite Book
The Count of Monte Cristo
Fun Fact
My fastest 5k was run with one shoe
Kevin Tryon
B.A. Franklin and Marshall College, M.A. University of Chicago
Why I Teach
To prepare young minds for a future that will be different than the past
Favorite Books
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci by Jonathan Spence and Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
Fun Fact
I successfully hitchhiked to high school every morning for four years - with one to two exceptions.
Mark Fifer
B.A. Dickinson College, M.S.Ed University of Pennsylvania
Why I Teach
The vitality, spirit and unpredictability of students
Favorite Book
From Beirut to Jerusalem
Fun Fact
Pitched in an all-star game at Fenway Park
Jeremy Hart
B.A. James Madison University; M.S.Ed Johns Hopkins University
Why I Teach
The opportunity to help students find a specific topic, a certain subject, a club or a sport that they can be truly excited about and fully invest themselves in learning and perfecting.
Favorite Books
Every book (currently published) in The Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) and entire The Lord of The Rings series
Fun Fact
Before starting work in the education field, I spent time working for a high ranking politician at the Scottish Parliament and, separately, as an investigator for the Washington, D.C. Public Defenders Office.
Tim Lengel '07
B.A. Williams College
Why I Teach
The chance to help my students learn more about themselves
Favorite Book
The American Political Tradition And the Men Who Made It by Richard Hofstadter
Fun Fact
I took a two-week home building course in Maine this past summer and harbor dreams of building a cabin someday.
Hannah B. Turlish
B.A. University of North Carolina, MAT Boston University
Why I Teach
It’s the direction my passion for social justice happened to take. In a parallel universe I’m part of the Innocence Project or Doctors Without Borders...and wishing I could work with eager and optimistic young people all of the time.
Favorite Book
It's a tie between 1984 and The House of Mirth.
Fun Fact
My five-year-old son can now rap to “The Ten Duel Commandments” (Hamilton soundtrack).