Meet Your Faculty-Fellows-in-Residence: Bryan and Stephanie (and family)

Bryan Waterman and Stephanie Smith-Waterman live with their family -- two teenage daughters, Anna and Molly, and a brand-new baby boy, Charlie -- on the 7th floor of Broome. Bryan teaches in the English department in CAS. Stephanie teaches graduate courses in the School of Social Work and manages the consulting and evaluation firm Human Services Evaluation and Development Associates. They have been Faculty Fellows since 2004 and spent two years as FFiRs at Water St. before moving to Broome in late 2006 to help found the ResCollege. In addition to their work as FFiRs, Stephanie also serves as the FA for the Broome Community Group (BCG).

Where do you come from? And how long have you been in NYC / at NYU?

Stephanie: I am originally from Washington State and visit the Pacific Northwest whenever I can. Our family has been in New York since August 2001. I completed two graduate degrees, in Social Work and Public Policy, at NYU and have been an adjunct lecturer for social policy courses within the Social Work school for the past several years.

Bryan: I grew up in northern Arizona. Stephanie and I met in college and moved to Boston shortly after, in 1994, where I pursued a Ph.D. in American Studies. We moved to New York in 2001 when I took a job at NYU. Our girls were born while we were still in our twenties and spent their early years in Boston; we expect the new guy, Charlie, to keep us young.

What are your professional interests?

Stephanie: I have had an interest in education since my own Elementary Ed. undergrad days, and I continue to explore the impact of youth development programming in urban environments like New York. More recent projects have allowed me to study mental health initiatives for children and families. On my own time, I enjoy the role of spearheading volunteer opportunities for our students within the ResCollege, which helps me feed a private passion.

Bryan: I'm a literary historian, though I often describe myself as a cultural historian of writing, since I study not only literature per se but diaries, letters, newspapers, and non-literary prose of various other sorts. I'm interested in the ways in which writing shapes private experience, but also in the ways in which it facilitates public experience and the production of knowledge. My primary research interests are in the history of writing in the early United States, but I've also developed a strong interest in the literary history of New York City. I teach courses in early American lit along with the course Writing New York, which I team-teach with Professor Cyrus Patell each spring.

My professional publications include a book about a literary club in 1790s New York City. I'm at work currently on multiple projects, including the literary history of a New England sex scandal in the post-Revolutionary era, a companion to New York City literature (which comes out in the spring), and a book for the series 33 1/3 about the 1977 album Marquee Moon, by the downtown New York band Television.

What are some of the programs you'll offer Broome Students this year?

Bryan: My interests are cultural and historical. In addition to loving literature I'm big on music and art programming and look forward to partnering with our awesome stream leaders. A lot of my programming has to do with the history of New York, especially the downtown neighborhoods whose nexus we live in. I host the Downtown Book Club, which typically picks 3 or 4 books a year, fiction and non-fiction, to read together -- often things that focus on the area we live in or NYC at large. (Last year our reading ranged from Watchmen to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.) I also plan to run a series of programs this year on the theme Lost New York, in conjunction with a conference I'm planning on campus. In the past I've run a New York film series, too. This year we may call it the "Subway Series" in honor of the rumble of the J train running beneath the Broome Room. Maybe we'll just show films that have something to do with the subway. Suggestions?

Together Stephanie and I host several on-going programs in our apartment. One we particularly like is called Salon 712: We invite students to share their own work or talents for an audience of peers, along with some invited guests who tend to be active in the students' chosen fields and who can offer constructive feedback. In the past we've had poetry and fiction readings, film screenings, a comedy night, and an open mic. We're open to suggestions about what kind of work to showcase and to volunteers who'd like to share their stuff!

Stephanie: I'll also continue my work with the Broome Community Group. BCG, for those who don't know, spans across streams, which means that even though we're structured like a stream, with a Faculty Affiliate and a budget for our own programs, we take in members who belong to all other streams. Anyone can join us—we welcome involvement within the entire Residential College, both Broome and Goddard students. One of the basic tenets of the group is that meeting together and sharing meals regularly bonds us as a group—anyone is welcome to join us at any point during the year. At these regular get-togethers (about every three or four weeks) we sit around and get to know each other, talk over ideas we have for volunteer opportunities, and discuss how our on-going projects are doing.

This fall BCG will help raise funds to send a team to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk (as well as sending a group of students to cheer the walkers). We'll also keep up our established relationships with HousingWorks, Animal Haven, and God’s Love We Deliver. We hope to partner with Goddard students on some programs and support the university's Week of Service.

Thanks!