New Instructors Join Exeter Faculty

 handful of new history, math, science and English teachers will arrive on campus in the fall. 

Aykut Kilinç, who will teach history at PEA in September, initially came to the US for a reason that many Exonians can relate to: education. In 2000, Kilinç moved to New England from Turkey to study Turkish history at a community college in New York, then moved on to American history and foreign policy at the University of New Hampshire. Kilinç previously taught history to international students at UNH for seven years while earning his Ph.D. 

Two years ago, while writing his dissertation, Kilinç realized that the best part of his fellowship at UNH was the opportunity to teach, and he decided to pursue a career in education. Having taught mainly freshman-level classes, Kilinç said that he prefers teaching younger students. He first came in contact with Exeter last summer when he encountered the Academy’s Director of Summer School, Ethan Shapiro, and became familiar with the Harkness method and the quality of students who attend Exeter. 

“Exeter has been on my radar for a year, year and half,” Kilinç said, “And then as I was finishing my Ph.D., there was an opening and I just jumped at it. I applied for it, and I got so lucky, I feel so blessed.”

History Department Chair Meg Foley said that Kilinç will be a crucial addition to the history department, as no current history instructors have as deep of a background in foreign policy. Kilinç will also bring diversity of experience and culture to the department. “I definitely want to get involved in international students’ lives at Exeter. That is something I truly enjoy,” Kilinç said. “I can understand the difficulties they may be having; being an international student myself for the last fifteen years, I can sympathize.”

Over the past few months, various departments have interviewed and hired candidates to fill open teaching spots. The math, history, science and English departments have collectively hired seven new teachers and have given tenure track positions to five temporary position teachers. 

The Academy offered English instructors Tyler Caldwell and Jason BreMiller, previously on one- year contracts, continuing appointments. In addition, English instructors Patty Burke-Hickey and Elizabeth Dean were also given longer contracts. Mathematics intern Emma Phillips will be returning in the fall with a one-year position as a mathematics instructor.

The English department hired two new teachers for next year, Linda Chavers and Ah-Young Song, as well as incoming intern Claire Abisalih ‘07. The new teachers will be filling in for three teachers who are departing this spring.

The English department hopes that Chavers and Song, who are African-American and Korean, respectively, will help create a better representation of the diversity present among the student population at Exeter. 

Chavers, with a background in African-American literature, will bring diversity in subject matter to the English department. “Linda impressed us with her scholarship,” English department chair Lundy Smith said. 

“We also thought she would be a really good fit for our school.”

Chavers received her Ph.D at Harvard University and is currently teaching at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

Song has taught previously at Andover and is currently teaching at an American school in Taipei. “In the applicant pool, [Chavers and Song] were really the strongest,” Smith said. “We looked at 350 resumes, and these are the people that really jumped to the top of the pile.”

The mathematics department hired four new full-time instructors, including a one-year position, which was taken by Phillips, one of this year’s two math interns. Along with Phillips, the department has hired David Huoppi, Tim Whittemore and Filip Sain for tenure-track positions.

Huoppi, who has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in mathematics, previously worked at the Salisbury School in Connecticut and Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. “David has a lot of independent school, boarding school experience,” mathematics department chair Eric Bergofsky said. “He’s a real school man.”

Whittemore taught for four years at the Putney School, an independent boarding school in Vermont, before attending graduate school at the University of Michigan.

Sain, a Ph.D in applied mathematics, has worked for the U.S. Department of Defense and a software company for most of his career. He recently started his teaching career at an Oklahoma independent school and spends his summers teaching in Uganda.  

Unlike the history and English departments, the math department focused specifically on credentials and experience.  “Ultimately they will teach across the curriculum like all the members of the math department do,” Bergofsky said. “They have their differences in background, but they will be able to teach anything and everything.” 

The science department has also confirmed two new teachers for next year. Jeannette Saraidaridis will be teaching chemistry full-time and Anisha Vinod will be an astronomy intern.