Portraits of Hackley Teachers

Steve Fitzpatrick, Middle School History teacher and Dean
At Hackley since 1995

As is often the case with Hackley faculty members, Steve Fitzpatrick came to us in somewhat atypical fashion. The adopted son of a successful lawyer, Mr. Fitzpatrick found himself treading down the familiar path as he completed his law degree, passed the bar, and began a successful practice. Yet he discovered, during his second year as an attorney, that the career did not suit his personality. So, he did a self-described “180” and took a teaching job at Hackley. At Hackley, he found his calling.

He began his career with us in 1995 as a 6th grade Asian studies teacher. Along the way, Mr. Fitzpatrick has coached Varsity boys and girls tennis, middle school girls basketball, served as the Dean of the 5th and 6th grade and Director of Curriculum for the Middle School, led an Upper School law class, and he has always taught Middle School History. He lived on campus and met his wife, Elizabeth, who came to Hackley as a music teacher in 1993. They married a few years later and moved into a faculty house on campus. While living on campus, they had two children, and this fall, their oldest will join the Hackley class of 2018 as a kindergartener. The Fitzpatricks are truly a Hackley family.

Since leaving the law, Mr. Fitzpatrick has never looked back. He was immediately drawn to Hackley because of its excited students, focused and energetic faculty, and the school’s sense of community. He loves the “quality of people” with whom he works, and, since arriving, says that “Every year has brought with it new challenges, new responsibilities.” He has found his niche with Middle School students – and at Hackley.

Preetha Chakrabarti, Middle School Science teacher
At Hackley since 2003

As someone relatively new to our campus and to teaching Preetha Chakrabarti, embodies the kind of vibrant, intelligent, excited personality that Hackley seeks to round out its faculty. Preetha graduated from Brown University in 2003 and joined our middle school faculty that fall. She is, however, no stranger to independent schools as she herself attended the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ms. Chakrabrti teaches 7th grade life science, advises 7th grade students, this year became the Community Service Coordinator for the Middle School, and coaches Middle School school girls soccer. In her role as the Community Service Coordinator she strives to unite a variety of grades while emphasizing the need to give back to the community. She hopes her life science students will leave her class with excellent study skills, an understanding about how to approach scientific problems, as well as a thorough knowledge of the life sciences and the world around us.

While at Brown, Ms. Chakrabarti double majored in classics and biology, worked at a support program designed to generate more interest in the sciences amongst women, advised underclassmen, and DJ’ed at an FM radio station. She lives in Tarrytown and often spends weekends in New York with friends from college and high school.

Andy King, Upper School History Teacher
At Hackley since 1998
by John Leistler

Andy King is a young teacher, but in my years of teaching, I have never met anyone with the intellect, the potential and the enthusiasm he possesses. Andy came to Hackley straight from a rigorous study of history at Colgate. Since his first year, he has reached out to every constituency of school life and has made himself a major and visible figure at Hackley, such that in June 2004, the Class of 2002 voted to recognize him with the Oscar Kimelman Award, given by the class two years after their graduation to the teacher who had the most impact on their education.

Andy sees himself as a student of history first, a teacher of history second. His passion for learning makes him a tremendous role model for students. As a history teacher, he works to recover the context of a specific era, so that his students are never merely adding to their trove of information. He excels in drawing students in to a narrative of inquiry. He does not simply teach the “canon” of history; he asks students to critique the canon, challenge the canon, bringing it to life and re-engaging its relevance. One of his students noted, “He makes people learn, and he makes sure they love it in the process.”

Andy understands young people and their needs and interests. While he is demanding and challenging, his demeanor and the climate of his classroom are never intimidating. He seeks ways to make history matter for the student for whom history has always been a tedious challenge. One of his students commented that through his commitment to detail, she finally saw that facts weren’t messy details. They had a beauty in their precision and their order. Facts all of a sudden had an energy about them; they belonged some place. She began to understand the need to find the structure in which facts belong.

As Robert Frost once said, “It is encouraging to belong in the same circle with people who see life large.” Andy wants as a teacher to encourage others to see life large – to make a difference, to help some find a voice, to listen, to learn, to be in a place of choices and challenges, of civility and compassion, integrity, tradition and change.

Kerry Clingen, Science and Math Teacher
By Kathy Szabo, Science Teacher and Department Chair (retired), at Hackley 1973-1998

The most amazing thing about Kerry Clingen is the way she cares about her students. She is everything that a Master Teacher must be, but there’s something more. Her relationship to students is very special. She balances warmth and authority better than I ever could, in all my years of teaching. She has the ability to keep students focused, to make them want to work for her, without questioning. There’s something about her; students just don’t want to disappoint her, ever.

She takes care of her students. She’s a wonderful mentor to all of the kids. Her advisees almost always stay with her through their four years of Upper School, sticking with her even after she is no longer their teacher. This is a testament to her personal relationships with the students.

Kerry is an incredibly hard worker, so devoted, always on the job. She never misses a class. Her devotion and commitment are amazing. That’s what I admire about her most, besides that I love her like a daughter. Hackley is lucky to have her.

Pavel Litvinov, Physics and Math Teacher and Human Rights Activist
At Hackley since 1976

Although Pavel Litvinov’s thirty years as a math and science teacher at Hackley have been rich with a history of educating our students about the finer points of calculus, algebra, and physics, he came to Hackley with a story that informs our community in ways that transcend his academic subjects.

Pavel grew up in the Soviet Union and was an assistant professor of physics at the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology from 1966 to 1968. During his tenure there, he wrote and published articles on human rights in the Soviet Union – for which he lost his teaching job. Later that year, he organized and led a march on Moscow’s Red Square protesting the invasion of the Czechoslovakia. He was beaten, arrested, and sentenced to five years of exile in Siberia – during which time he worked as an electrician in a mine. Upon his release, he returned to Moscow and continued his dissident efforts and was, once again, arrested. This time he was given the choice of serving many years of confinement or leaving the country. In 1974, Pavel and his family entered the United States where he continued to speak, and write, in defense of human rights. In 1976, he joined our faculty. He is mentioned in David Remnick’s Lenin’s Tomb, and can be heard periodically speaking on human rights in broadcasts on National Public Radio.

Recently, he led a group of our students and faculty on a journey to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Helsinki, and a highlight of the trip was his reenactment of the demonstration he led in Red Square. In his time here, he has graced our campus with his knowledge of not just calculus and physics, but also of the world.