Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

For many graduate students, writing is a lonely, stressful, unrewarding task undertaken for a radically restricted readership—perhaps only one other person might ever read the essay you spent weeks researching, drafting, and editing. But writing isn’t a solo pursuit: we write for others, about others, and even in collaboration with others. At the BGC, you’ll share your writing with a community of supportive and critically engaged peers, each drawing on their own disciplinary, professional, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds to help you craft better, clearer ideas.

Before working at the BGC, Helen taught writing at New York University, specializing in art, performance, and science writing. She has also taught mathematics, philosophy, and critical thinking at University of Otago in Aotearoa New Zealand, and on cyborgs and disability/queer theory at the New School. Helen’s PhD thesis won the Deena Burton Memorial Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research in Dance and was completed under the supervision and care of José Esteban Muñoz. Her understanding of the arts of communication and persuasion is also informed by her experience in dance and theater, her interests in mathematics, science, and science fiction, and her work as a DJ, presenter, and newsreader at Radio One in Dunedin.