Teaching Academy 2025 Presenters

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Debadatta Chakraborty (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and a graduate certificate holder in Advanced Feminist Studies at UMass Amherst. She has been studying ‘controversial topics’ since her undergraduate days in India and currently teaches and researches on transnational authoritarianism politics, migration, race, caste and gender. She has taught a wide variety of courses as an instructor of record in Sociology and in Gender Studies in India and in the US, including at UMass Amherst, Smith College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She also offers workshops on qualitative research methodology through the Institute of Social Science Research at UMass Amherst. 

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Busra Karkili (she/her) is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Operations Management at the Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst. Over the past three years, she has taught a wide range of courses, including technical, hands-on, required, and electives, teaching students at different stages of their undergraduate education, from early-year students to graduating seniors. Before leading her own courses, she worked as a teaching assistant for engineering and business students during her master’s and PhD programs. As an undergraduate, she also volunteered as a tutor in her hometown, supporting students from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Busra’s research focuses on not-for-profit operations, particularly social welfare and subsidy voucher programs. She is committed to growing as both a researcher and educator, and she regularly reflects on her teaching, using student feedback and classroom experience to guide her development.

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Nagihan Ince (she/her) is a PhD candidate in German and Scandinavian Studies at UMass Amherst. She holds a teaching degree in English and German for the upper secondary education from the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, and an MA in German Studies from the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on migration, minority discourses, memory, and gender in twenty-first-century literature and film. She is passionate about bridging research and teaching and is especially drawn to interdisciplinary approaches that connect literature, film, education, and cultural studies.

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Bo (Boram) Kim (she/her) is a third-year MFA candidate in Studio Arts at UMass Amherst and recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award. Originally from Busan, South Korea, she has brought her trauma-informed teaching training to her work in the Department of Art, where she teaches drawing and painting to art and non-art majors, and at Girls Inc. of the Valley, where she fosters creativity and scientific curiosity among 5th-grade students in underserved communities. Kim’s discipline, drive, and strong work ethic has led to dozens of grants, awards, and fellowships, including the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute Fellowship and Instructional Innovation Fellowship, as well as a spot in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) Alumni Residency program.

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Rebekah Kristal (she/her) is a 3rd-year PhD student in the Biostatistics Department in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, where she has worked as a graduate TA for the past 4 semesters. She graduated from Brandeis University in 2023 with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and History, with a minor in Chemistry. Through her own journey navigating higher education with a chronic illness, she became passionate about giving back through Student Accessibility Support, where she served as a peer support mentor for three years. Her graduate research focuses on women’s health and health equity through a quantitative lens. Outside of the classroom, she loves cooking, fiber arts, and nature walks with friends.

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Victoria Vizzini (she/her) is a fifth-year PhD student in the Psychological and Brain Sciences program with a specialization in Developmental Science. She is originally from New Jersey and graduated with Departmental Honors from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Psychology and minors in English and Chinese in 2021. Since her time at UMass, she has served as the instructor of record across several semesters with experience developing creative classroom activities, building student engagement and providing mentorship to undergraduate students. She prides herself on trying to foster an inclusive classroom environment and provide resources for students as they begin to consider professional pathways. 

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Yan Wu (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Comparative Literature Program at UMass Amherst, where she has served as a graduate teaching associate since Fall 2020. She has taught four distinct stand-alone courses, ranging from 100-level Literature and Global Diversity classes to an upper-level course on translation theory, practice, and service learning. Her research interests include translation and migration, translation and multilingualism, and the history of interpreting. Before joining UMass, she taught business interpreting and translation in China and ran a language services company. Alongside her academic pursuit, she continues to work as a freelance interpreter in community and conference settings.