College at 60 Faculty

John Bach, M.A., University College, Ireland
Bach grew up in Albany, New York, and arrived at Fordham as an undergraduate, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in theatre and English literature. After earning his undergraduate degree and working in New York for years, he traveled to Ireland, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Anglo-Irish literature from University College Dublin. In 1998, he returned to Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus to become an assistant dean in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. Along with that full-time job, he is also an adjunct instructor at the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses, where he teaches courses in theatre, literature, and film.

June Ballinger
June Ballinger is an actor of American and British heritage. For 22 years June was Producing Artistic Director and re-founder of The Passage Theatre Company, dedicated to developing socially relevant new plays for Trenton, NJ’s culturally diverse community. She occasionally continues to produce in addition to her career as an actor. As an actor in NYC and regionally, she has performed in many new works at theatres nationwide such as New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, New World Symphony New Work Program in collaboration with The Playwright's Realm, New Harmony Theatre, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, Primary Stages, The Chelsea Theatre Center, The Kennedy Center, numerous regionals, and was also in the original Broadway cast of "Pack of Lies" starring Rosemary Harris. She frequently performs her one-woman show, "Remembrance Day," about a female code breaker at Bletchley Park during WWII (inspired by her mother's life). Her Television work includes guest spots on NBC The Blacklist; Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, Law&Order SVU, Amazon Prime Hunters; NBC Law&Order, Saturday Night Live, and various daytime soaps. She plays Mrs. Henry in the 2021 Netflix-released film Monster. She is a company member of the Actors Center in NYC and The Ensemble Studio Theatre. She teaches acting at The Bucks County Playhouse to students 16-60 and privately. June serves on the board of Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre and Fay Simpson’s Impact Theatre/Lucid Body House in NYC.

Bruce M. Bettigole, J.D., Columbia Law School
For the past 20 years, Mr. Bettigole has been a partner (and now semi-retired senior counsel) in securities enforcement defense litigation in a large law firm private practice.  He previously served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn and Las Vegas as lead prosecutor on criminal securities fraud grand jury investigations and jury trials.  He also was the first Chief Counsel of FINRA’s Criminal Prosecution Assistance Group, which assists criminal prosecutions at the federal, State and local levels throughout the country. He was also a Chief Counsel for FINRA Enforcement, and an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel for the SEC in Washington D.C.  He has been a speaker at numerous securities industry conferences and securities broker-dealers’ annual law and compliance meetings. Guest lecturer in College at 60 class, “Great Trials,” on the Alger Hiss investigations and prosecution taught by Professor Juliana Gilheany. His credentials include a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Nicholas Birns, Ph.D., New York University
Nicholas Birns is the author most recently of The Literary Role of History in the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien (Routledge, 2024),  Cambridge Companion to the Australian Novel (Cambridge UP, 2023; co-edited with Louis Klee), The Hyperlocal in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Literary Space (Lexington, 2019) and A Companion to Anthony Trollope (McFarland, 2021). His earlier books include Contemporary Australian Literature (University of Sydney Press, 2015) and Theory After Theory: An Intellectual History of Literary Theory from 1950 to the early twenty-first century. With Juan E. De Castro and Wilfrido Corral, he co-edited The Contemporary Spanish American Novel (Bloomsbury: 2013). He has published in journals such as Victorian Studies, Arizona Quarterly, MLQ, Partial Answers, and Exemplaria as well as in The New York Times Book Review.

John Garza, Ph.D. Fordham University
John Garza has been teaching at Fordham for over a decade, and his teaching experience includes courses on the Hebrew Bible, the Gospels, and Religion and Ecology. He is currently an Acquisitions Editor with Fordham University Press, where he actively publishes books from scholars writing in religion, theology, philosophy, and environmental studies. Dr. Garza is also a perennial favorite with undergrads from Fordham's School of Professional and Continuing Studies (PCS).

Robert René Galván
Robert René Galván was born in San Antonio, Texas of half-Indigenous and other multi-ethnic heritages. He is the Conductor of the Bronx Concert Singers, Peace of Heart Choir, the Choir of Central Unitarian Church of Paramus, and Manhattan Sinfonia in New York City. He was also Music Director of Highbridge Voices Youth Chorus, and Professor of Conducting & Choral Studies at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music where he trained young conductors and directed the conservatory chorale. He was guest conductor of Florilegium Chamber Choir in Manhattan and Cappella Festiva in upstate New York. For four seasons he was conductor of the Springfield Symphony Chorus in Massachusetts. In Texas, Galván held positions as conductor of the Austin Philharmonic, Associate Conductor of the Austin Choral Union, and as director of both the University Chorus and the Longhorn Singers at the University of Texas where he was awarded the Texas Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to conducting, René is a multi-instrumentalist and published poet. Galván has made a lifelong study of indigenous music from across the world, with an emphasis of understanding origins, traditions, and cultural context, as well as proper pronunciations and singing styles for choral performance. René’s books of poetry are Meteors, Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, Standing Stones, Finishing Line Press, and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books. He is married to the playwright Holly Hepp-Galván and has a daughter, Gina.

Nina Goss, Ph.D., University of Washington
In addition to more than 20 years of teaching courses in writing and literature, Goss is the editor of Montague Street, a print journal, and co-editor of and contributor to a book of essays, Dylan at Play (Cambridge Scholars Press). Her most recent publication is a volume of essays she contributed to and co-edited, Tearing the World Apart: Bob Dylan and the Twenty-First Century. She is currently working on a study of Bob Dylan and late style creativity for publication by Palgrave.

Lisa Holsberg, Ph.D. Fordham University
Dr. Lisa Holsberg has been teaching courses in the Department of Theology at Fordham University since 2014 and currently is an adjunct professor at Fordham and at Manhattan University. A professional musician and dedicated arts educator for many years, her “theological turn” took place after 9/11 and her development and performance of her 9/11 music peace project, Race for the Sky (www.raceforthesky.org). She pursued her research questions on creativity, spirituality, religion, philosophy, and politics first at The Union Theological Seminary in New York and then completed her Ph.D. in historical theology at Fordham University. Dr. Holsberg also holds an Ed.M. in Music and Music Education with an emphasis on college pedagogy from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.F.A. and B.Mus. from the University of California, Irvine. She is a Co-Founder and Co-Director of Community Voices Choir, a creative aging initiative launched by the Metropolitan Opera Guild in 2022 and now in its fifth season. Her undergraduate courses at Fordham include: American Religious Texts and Traditions, Faith and Critical Reason, Christian Mystical Texts, Philosophy of Human Nature, and Great Christian Hymns.

Richard Hresko, M.S., New York University; M.A., Fordham University
Currently an adjunct lecturer at both Fordham University and City University of New York, Hresko has been teaching university courses since 1980, including classes in economics, statistics, general and organic chemistry, and history from antiquity through the 20th century. His academic interests throughout his career have ranged from computer modeling of proteins in aqueous solutions to why medieval England imported iron, and he is currently working on the technology and economics of medieval arms and armor.

Kathryn John, M.A., New York University
A recipient of Fordham’s prestigious Bene Merenti medal, John teaches music history at Fordham University and maintains a private practice of music instruction. She has been with College at 60 since 1984. She specializes in the works of Ludwig von Beethoven, and she has taught numerous classical music courses on opera, symphony, concerto, and great composers.

Luz Lenis, Ph.D., SUNY-Albany 
Luz Lenis is a lifelong educator and dedicated academic leader with a passion for supporting students at every stage of their educational journey. With over two decades of experience at Fordham University, Luz has served as Assistant Dean at Fordham College at Rose Hill, where she coordinated advising programs for sophomores and transfer students, guided international programs, and collaborated with faculty and staff to create welcoming and inclusive learning environments.

Her teaching career spans institutions such as Baruch College (CUNY), Fordham University, and the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she has inspired learners of all backgrounds in language, linguistics, and cultural studies. Luz holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from SUNY Albany, and her commitment to education is reflected in her work preparing teachers for bilingual certification and leading immersive language programs.

Luz’s interests include fostering multicultural engagement, supporting student organizations, and participating in global faculty exchanges. She is known for her warm approach, deep respect for lifelong learning, and her ability to help students rediscover their academic passions at any age.

Jim Levey, M.A., St. John’s University
Jim Levey holds a Masters in China Studies from the Asian Institute, St. John’s University, New York and has travelled to China extensively on business. His business career includes entrepreneurial and corporate positions at global technology organizations including IBM and Amdocs. Early in his career Jim was one the first American entrepreneurs to establish trade with China. He travelled to Wenzhou in 1985 and commissioned a factory to manufacture leisure items for distribution in department stores and boutiques. While at Amdocs, Jim launched marketing campaigns to introduce Amdocs solutions to global markets in Asia. In 2018, Jim retired from business and began lecturing. He researched and wrote a new curriculum (reviewed by China experts at Columbia) that spans Chinese history from antiquity to present, to enable a more insightful view of “China in the Modern World.” His work is interdisciplinary covering history, philosophy, trade and economics and geo-politics. Jim has been lecturing at public libraries and continuing education centers in major metro regions.

Gail Miller, M.A., Hunter College
Gail Miller is a native New Yorker. She is an artist and educator obtaining her BA and MA degrees in Fine Arts and Education. During her career she has taught every age group from Kindergarten to the University level. She taught studio art at Fordham University for 13 years and has maintained an active studio for 50 years. She is a member of various professional organizations and is a signature member of The National Association of Women in the Arts celebrating its 135th year anniversary. Website and gallery: https://gailmillerartist.com/

Donn Mitchell, M.A., The General Theological Seminary
Donn Mitchell began his career as a newspaper reporter, specializing in environmental affairs, eventually becoming a public interest activist on behalf of clean water, gay rights, and workers’ rights.  He also worked to promote these concerns within the Episcopal Church, later undertaking historical studies at the Episcopal seminary in New York. Since that time, he has focused on the life and work of Frances Perkins.  He is the author of Tread the City’s Streets Again: Frances Perkins Shares Her Theology and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Nightly Prayer: The Religious Life of the First Lady of the World. He also provided editorial support for Sisters in the Brotherhoods.

Barbara Parker, Ph.D., New York University
Barbara Parker is professor emerita of English Renaissance Literature at William Paterson University and has also taught literature courses in New York University’s School of Professional Studies. Her publications include Plato’s Republic and Shakespeare’s Rome: A Political Study of the Roman Works and articles in Shakespeare Quarterly, Marlowe Studies, and other leading journals, and she has presented papers at academic conferences throughout the United States. Her scholarship has been variously acclaimed: her article, “Plato’s Republic and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar,” was reprinted in Shakespearean Criticism: Yearbook 1993 (the Yearbook reprints 40 of what it deems the most outstanding essays published on Shakespeare during the preceding year). The article was additionally excerpted and reprinted in the Everyman Library edition of Julius Caesar (1993), one of only 17 articles selected to illustrate “Perspectives on Julius Caesar” since 1747 and the sole article chosen to represent the criticism of the 1990s. Her article on William Dean Howells’s Shadow of a Dream was reprinted in On Howells (1993), part of the Duke University Press series, The Best from American Literature, which reprints what it deems the best articles ever published in American Literature. In 2007, she was recognized by William Paterson University for outstanding scholarship and teaching. Her most recent publication is titled “’A Man in Babylon’: The Brothel Motif in Twelfth Night.”

Robert J. Parmach, Ph.D., Fordham University
Dr. Parmach serves as the inaugural director of Ignatian mission in the office of the vice president for mission integration and ministry at Fordham University, where he also teaches philosophy and theology.

A native of New York, Rob graduated from Xavier High School, earned the BA in philosophy with classics distinction from Fairfield University where he ran cross-country and track and his MA and PhD from Fordham University. He started his career in student affairs as a counselor and peer educator before becoming academic dean of first-year students at Fordham College at Rose Hill where he served as faculty director of its Manresa Scholars integrated learning community for first year students and coordinator of the sophomore West Wing Ignatian leadership program. Professor Parmach’s teaching and scholarship highlight practical applications of philosophy, theology and Jesuit education. He served on the student life committee of Xavier High School and advisory board of Contemplative Leaders in Action of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. For twenty-five years now, during the first week in June, Rob along with Fordham students and young alumni have served at Camp Friendship, an apostolate for foster children in rural Mississippi, putting theory into action. 

Marion Polsky
Dr. Marion Polsky holds an A.B. in Classics from Barnard College, an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Princeton University, where she specialized in Indo-European (historical) linguistics and sacred texts. As an instructor in the New School Graduate Faculty’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program for adult learners, she devised and taught a 4-course linguistics sequence to correlate with courses in literature, history, and the social sciences. She was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, under the aegis of Brooklyn College, in which she directed the “Latin Cornerstone Project,” a program aimed at improving the language skills of New York City schoolchildren in grades 4-7. The curriculum she developed was published as “First Latin: A Language Discovery Program” (1987,1998). The only commercially published program of its kind, it received major media coverage nationwide. In her 40-some years of teaching, whether to young children, high schoolers, college students, or adult learners, Dr. Polsky has continued to bring to the classroom a multi-dimensional approach to the mystery and power of human language.

Sharon M. Suchma
Sharon M. Suchma, Ph.D., is an art historian who has been teaching in NYC for almost twenty years. Her early graduate research and degrees focused mainly on radical abstract art in the 1950s and 1960s in Manhattan. Her doctorate is in the History of Photography and looks at the role of sociology in 1930s photographic projects conducted in the American South. Dr. Suchma sees studying art as a way to better understand human history, expression, identity, and culture. She also is a proud Fordham alumna, having earned an undergraduate degree in Medieval Studies at Rose Hill.

Jess Velona, J.D., Columbia Law School, M.A., New York University
Velona was a law clerk for then-Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, practiced law for 35 years, including 20 at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and since 2006 has been a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School.  At College at 60, he has taught courses on the Nazi regime, immigration, modern Russia, American slavery, and other topics, and he has taught American history and other subjects to undergraduates at Fordham and other New York area universities.  Velona has published on the intersection of law and politics, both in legal journals and in a contribution to a recent historical volume, Law and Revolution in Seventeenth-Century Ireland. As a one-time candidate for public office in Manhattan and former aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jess loves sharing with students his passion for politics and history.