Speaker Biographies
Eleanor Joseph '07, "Jac/queline of All Trades, Master of One"
Eleanor is the CEO and cofounder of Ubuntu Capital, which has launched "Bridge," a micro-escrow product designed specifically for use in low-trust, informal economies within emerging markets. Prior to this work, she drafted Boston's regulation for various sharing-economy industries, designed policies fostering the City's continued economic development, and earned her M.B.A. and master's of public policy from Harvard University.
Nell Bang-Jensen '11, "Engaging Community through Disruptive Art Practices”
Nell is a Philadelphia-based theater director and creator. She has also been honored with a 2011–2012 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and is one of eight participants of a grant-funded program intended to develop future leaders in American theater. Her upcoming projects include a symphonic theater hybrid and a community-generated caregiving piece.
Dan Hammer '07, “The Liberal Art of Data Science”
A former senior policy adviser for data infrastructure in the Obama White House, Dan cofounded a nonprofit with the former CEO of The Nature Conservancy and The Moore Foundation to support environmental journalists with access to satellite imagery. A Lang Scholar, a Watson Fellow, and a Ph.D. candidate at UC–Berkeley, he won the 2017 Pritzker Prize for contributions to the environment.
Tsuyoshi Mitarai '98, "The Answer is in Asking the Right Questions"
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Tsuyoshi graduated from Swarthmore as an economics major and then from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He completed an emergency medicine/internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland and went on to complete a critical care fellowship at Stanford University, where he has stayed on as a faculty member who works in both the emergency department as well as the medical intensive care unit.
Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon '12, "Living the Life of the Mind: Liberal Arts in Everyday Life".
Kimberly is a high school history teacher and community college professor. She's also a Texan, an African-American woman, a Russian-speaker, a bibliophile, and a Swattie. She is dedicated to building a love of lifelong learning in her students and making history more accessible outside the academy. She lives by the quote, "Live the life of the mind. Learn every day; it's how you know you are alive."
