Harvard University

Graduate Student, Graduate School of Education

Frank Knox Memorial Fellow

Thesis Title: Free Thinking: the value and development of intellectual autonomy

About

I'm a candidate for an Ed.D in Human Development and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), and Executive Vice-President of the Humanist Graduate Community at Harvard. I work alongside Greg Epstein as the Research and Education Fellow at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, trying to create a true Humanist fellowship in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I grew up on Star Trek, Sagan, and Shakespeare.

I am a philosopher. In my academic work I study the nature, value and importance of free thinking - how we can develop true intellectual autonomy to the benefit of every person and of society at large. To this end I am currently engaged in a philosophical analysis of the concept of rigor - what is it, why is it important, and how can you develop it?

I also have a long interest in how the arts promote human development - particularly how they help us grapple with questions like "What do I value in life?", "How can I find meaning and purpose?" and "Who am I?"

I hold an M.Ed in Arts in Education from HGSE, and a MA in Education with Drama and English from the University of Cambridge – I graduated with a Double first Class degree. I am privileged to have been made a Frank Knox Memorial Fellow, an award offered to those who display “future promise of leadership, strength, keen mind, a balanced judgment and a devotion to the democratic ideal.” This generous award has enabled me to continue my studies. I have also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a UK organization “committed to finding innovative practical solutions to today’s social challenges” and to bringing about a 21st Century Enlightenment.

I am an Ambassador for the Teach First program (essentially Teach for America in the UK), from which I graduated with distinction in July 2007. Under the program I spent two years teaching English (and some Drama) in Longford Community School in Feltham, West London. This was an extraordinarily challenging and invaluable experience, and I will never forget the professionalism and dedication of the teachers I worked with, nor the good-naturedness and fundamental decency of the children who had the bizarre experience of having me as a teacher.

I am an experienced actor and singer, having performed in many locations around the world, including St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Shakespeare's Globe, the Barbican, and the Royal Albert Hall. I have sung with the Surrey Youth Choir and National Youth Choir of Great Britain, under many renowned conductors and choral leaders, and have taken on such varied roles as Oedipus, Jacques and Touchstone ('As You Like It'), Thomas Becket (Murder in the Cathedral) and Father Christmas (numerous times). I currently sing with the Coro Allegro and the Boston Gay Men's Chorus.

For two years I worked part-time for the London Shakespeare Workout Prison Project, a charity that takes Shakespeare into prisons around the UK. During my association with LSW I visited HMP Send, Highpoint, Brixton and Pentonville, and helped organise a production of 'The House of Bernarda Alba' that was performed at the Criterion Theatre in London. This was the first occasion on which inmates from a closed prison (HMP Send) were given leave to perform on a London Stage.

I am a board member of Join the Impact Massachusetts, a group of activists dedicated to using direct action to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, transgender and all queer people.

I am a committed Humanist and a Humanist Celebrant. I want to build communities which foster the development of non-religious social capital and give non-religious people the space to come together and appreciate each other more deeply. To further this aim, I'm an Assistant Editor at The New Humanism and a Contributing Scholar for State of Formation (an interfaith community blog), as well as the creator of Temple of the Future, a website dedicated to reviving and reimagining Humanism for the 21st Century. 

I believe the primary role of the academic is to aid in the promotion of a society dedicated to human flourishing and freedom.

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