Meet the Instructors

The instructors for our courses include current and retired Wesleyan faculty members who live in the Middletown area, alumni/ae,  and local professionals—artists, clergy, curators, scholars, scientists, writers, and other experts—who have no formal affiliation with Wesleyan but are pleased to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives with our students.

  • Richard Adelstein

    radelstein@wesleyan.edu

    Professor Emeritus Richard Adelstein's teaching and scholarly interests lie at the intersection of economics, law, history and philosophy. More particularly, he's interested in the historical development of social institutions like markets, firms and common law and the problem of how social order is created and maintained in various environments and changes as those environments change.
  • Stephen Bank

    stephenbank88@gmail.com

    Stephen Band is a psychotherapist, former Adjunct Professor of Psychology, co–author of The Sibling Bond, and author of Hamlet-The Sequel. The course Psychological Perspectives on Hamlet expresses Steve’s life-long interest in using psychology to help people understand their lives and their relationships.
  • Steve Broker

    stephenpaulbroker@gmail.com

    Steve Broker’s career in science education has included high school teaching of physical and life science, university administrative positions at Wesleyan’s Graduate Liberal Studies and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and adjunct lectureships at Albertus Magnus College (Teaching of Science), Yale College (Teacher Preparation Program), University of New Haven (Master of Environmental Science Program), and Quinnipiac University (biology). He has studied the ecology and diversity of birds for the past forty years. Steve is a past president of the New Haven Bird Club and of the Connecticut Ornithological Association, and regional coordinator for the recent Connecticut Bird Atlas. He has been the statewide compiler of the Connecticut Christmas Bird Count for 34 years and writes the yearly review article for publication in the state journal of ornithology. His field work includes long-term studies of breeding peregrine falcons and common ravens in Connecticut and marsh birds on Outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
  • Richard Friswell

    rfriswell@wesleyan.edu

    Richard Friswell is a cultural historian who lectures widely on topics related to Modernism and the modern era in world history.  Underpinning his cultural-historical approach to art history is the notion that the art, literature, and social history of nations are interrelated.  His recent publications include Balancing Act: Postcards from the Edge of Risk and Reward (2017) and Hudson River Chronicles: In Search of the Splendid & Sublime on America's 'First' River (2019).  His historical novel, Merchants of Deceit: American Fortune & the China Trade (Fall 2021) deals with the experiences of the Middletown merchant Samuel Russell in Canton, China.

  • Peter Glass

    peter@peterglass.com

    Peter, of Peter Glass Photography, is an award-winning professional photographer specializing in commercial, corporate, and editorial photography. For over 25 years, he has serviced clients locally, nationally, and internationally. These have included large corporations, small businesses, advertising agencies, and a variety of magazines. Peter's other specialty is stock photography. His images can be found in brochures, magazines, websites, and on book covers.

    For the past dozen years, Peter has been designing and teaching one-to-one photography workshops. In addition, he's a photography consultant to both full-time and those hoping to make the jump from amateur to professional.
  • Rhea Higgins

    rhiggins@wesleyan.edu

    Rhea Padis Higgins taught for many years in the art history department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Hartford. She holds a BA from Smith College and an MAT from Harvard. From 1986 to 2002 she also taught at Wesleyan in Graduate Liberal Studies. Her particular area of expertise is 19th-century European painting, with an emphasis on post-Impressionist artists, but her knowledge of art ranges from classical antiquity to the present.

  • Kathleen Housley

    Kathleen L. Housley is the author of eleven acclaimed books, ranging from women’s history to materials science. She has written for numerous national journals, including the Christian Century and Image. She is also a freelance writer and editor.
  • Laura Pirie

    laura@pirieassociates.com

    Laura Pirie, AIA, who for over 28 years has designed and implemented thoughtful and integrated built environments, is the principal of Pirie Associates Architects. Her work across the country includes extensive, award-winning experience with museum, performing art, institutional, commercial/retail, and residential structures, as well as community visioning and urban design.
  • Sari Rosenblatt

    srosenblatt@wesleyan.edu

    Sari Rosenblatt's stories have been published in the Iowa Review, and she's received short story awards from Glimmer Train, New Millennium Writings, Nimrod Journal of International Prose and Poetry (The Katherine Anne Porter Award) and Ms Magazine.  Her collection of short stories, "Father Guards the Sheep," (University of Iowa Press) won the 2020 Iowa Short Story award. Formerly a fiction writing teacher at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, she now conducts writing seminars through the Wasch Center. 
  • Marcella Trowbridge

    Marcella@art-farm.org

    Marcella is a classically trained actress and dancer and has played many roles from Shakespespeare’s Hermia, Titania, Beatrice, Adriana, Isabella, Kate, Lady Macbeth, Cordelia and the title role in Hamlet to Goldoni and Indian epic roles like Kali/Durga. She has directed many generative works as well as professional Shakespeare productions. Marcella Trowbridge has been dedicated to making new work for over 20 years. She has been an artist in residence at Wesleyan University and the University of Jaffna, as well as guest lecturer at the University of Kelaniya and Middlesex Community College.