Williston’s History department has made several exciting staffing additions for the 2022-2023 school year.
In all Williston hired 11 new faculty; two of these hires, Dr. Pamela Maddock and Justin Brooks, have sparked the curiosity of students.
Maddock, who was most recently living in Australia, flew over 10,000 miles to come to the United States to return to teaching high school after being a professor at the University of Sydney. She made the transition with her two children, who now live on campus.
Brooks, who is a dorm parent in Ford Hall, most recently taught high school students in Phoenix, Arizona. He was also a TA at Yale University. Both upper school history teachers have been described as passionate and compelling and have a clear passion for teaching.
Maddock was lured in part, she said, by Williston’s class sizes.
“Part of the reason I moved was because of location. I wanted to move to this part of the world and work with a smaller number of students as opposed to a lecture hall,” Maddock said. “You can teach skills in a way with high school students when you see them multiple times a week for a whole year in a way that you can’t with one hundred students in one semester where they submit maybe two pieces of writing and there’s not much room for critique.”
Maddock also brings with her an international perspective on academics, and a desire to get back to what initially sparked her interest in education.
“The academic world in Australia is really characterized by a lot of precarity and insecurity, with having to deal with things like budget cuts and labor disputes,” Maddock stated. “It was really about re-entering the high school classroom for me, as I was teaching high school before I started my Ph.D. [in History, from the University of Sydney]. Everyone that I encountered at Williston just oozed that unpretentious warmth and excellence at the same time. That combination made me feel immediately at home.”
Maddock also has a B.A. in History from Yale.
Brooks is also looking to play a larger, more impactful role in the lives of his students.
“My big passion in life is teaching, and I’ve been thinking for a long time about making the transition to a boarding school,” he said. “The students are all the reason I’m here, I wanted to be a bigger role in their lives. My original plan was to become a professor, but there’s nothing like teaching ninth and tenth grade students who are excited and creative and still have a lot of energy.”
Brooks has in the past received fellowships to study at Oxford University, the University of Melbourne, and Cambridge University. In addition, he holds a B.A. with Honors from College of the Holy Cross, an M.A. with distinction from Columbia University, a M.S. with distinction from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. and an M.Phil. in History from Yale.
David Koritkoski, the Acting Dean of Students, describes both these history teachers as “awesome.”
“They are both extremely qualified and have significant university background,” Koritkoski said. “They both have a passion for teaching that will serve our students well.”