BENJAMIN KARL | Director
University of Nevada, Reno, M.B.A. (candidate)
McGill University, B.A., French Literature and Translation, B.A., East Asian Studies

Originally from upstate New York, Ben first fell in love with France during a three week family trip in 2002. After high school, he was a Rotary International exchange student in rural France, further solidifying his love for French language and culture. He attended McGill University in Montréal, Québec, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree with distinction in French Literature and Translation and East Asian Studies. He currently shares his love of languages on a daily basis as a French and Chinese translator in Reno, Nevada, where he is also pursuing an M.B.A. at the University of Nevada. This is his third summer leading for Putney, having previously led the Pre-College China Program in 2011 and Pre-College Paris in 2013. When he is not translating, he enjoys cooking, making pottery, and going on hikes in Lake Tahoe.

HALEY JAKOBSON | Program Assistant
Boston University, B.F.A., Theatre Arts

Haley Jakobson is a rising senior at Boston University’s School of Theatre. She will graduate with her B.F.A. in Theatre Arts, with an intense focus in Acting, Directing, and Playwriting. This May, her play Deep Love of Nightgowns was chosen to be a part of the Boston Playwright’s Theatre annual Theatre Marathon where it was directed and performed professionally. Haley has a deep passion for the theatre and believes that it encourages the core values of communication, connection, and human understanding. Haley has just finished a semester abroad, studying Physical Theatre at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Haley is incredibly excited to be part of the Putney family this summer, as she owes much of her creative fire to the five summers she spent as a student on Putney trips.

GABRIEL ZINN | Art & Architecture of Paris
Reed College, B.A., English

While at Reed, Gabriel studied literature, language and the humanities. He will be continuing those studies this summer in Paris, working with a grant to research Walter Benjamin’s The Arcades Project as well as the Arcades themselves as a cultural symbol. Gabriel has already spent over a year of his education studying in France, and is excited to continue working on French literature, art, and architecture. Gabriel is fluent in English and getting close to fluency in French and in German, as he has also spent almost a full year studying in Berlin. This fall, Gabriel will be returning to his native Portland for a brief respite, and to pursue his interest in publishing, before heading off to either South Korea or France, again, to teach full-time.

MICHAEL HOYER | Drawing & Painting
Stanford University, Ph.D., Comparative Literature
Dartmouth College, M.A., Comparative Literature
Middlebury College, B.A., English, B.A., Studio Art

Michael completed her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature in 2012. In her academic research and teaching, she specializes in 20th- and 21st-century novels in French, English, and Spanish. Michael has taught high school and college level courses in literature, writing, and art in the United States and abroad, including on Putney Student Travel’s Pre-College programs in 2000, 2001, 2013, and 2014.  She has also led two National Geographic Student Expeditions programs in Italy and Greece. Currently, she teaches in the departments of Comparative and World Literature, Humanities, and English at San Francisco State University. Her course “Literary Journeys & the Quest for Self-Knowledge” asks students to consider the question: how does literature help us navigate the journeys we undertake in life? Michael has lived in Sweden for a year as an exchange student, crossed below the Equator and above the Arctic Circle in the span of two weeks, and she has lived in — and continues to return to — Paris whenever possible. When Michael is not writing, teaching, or traveling, she is practicing yoga, metalsmithing, cooking, running on trails, or riding her Bianchi cross-bike in the hills of San Francisco. Michael speaks French, Spanish, Swedish, and Italian.

MAGGIE BISHOP | French Language: Topics in Life & Culture
University of Wisconsin, Madison, M.A., French Literature (candidate)
Indiana University, B.A., French and Italian

Maggie is currently a French literature graduate student and French language instructor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After having spent a wonderful year abroad in Bordeaux, France, her sophomore year of high school and living with a French host family, Maggie decided to return to France to teach English to high school students outside of Strasbourg. Maggie’s experience teaching high school as well as her own experience traveling as a high school student has helped her better understand the importance of cultural exchange at such a formative age. Maggie has a passion not only for the French language and literature but for the culture as well. Maggie looks forward to sharing her love of travel and culture with Putney students this summer. This fall, Maggie will be continuing her graduate work and teaching.

AUDREY LANG | History of Fashion
Northeastern University, B.S., Business Administration

While at Northeastern, Audrey focused on business as it applies to the fashion industry and minored in the French language. Audrey was born in Paris, France, and has visited every other year since she immigrated to the United States. Audrey is fluent in French and has a fervor for the culture as it is one of those she calls her own. Audrey has held a number of retail positions that have fostered her love of the fashion industry. She now works at a digital marketing agency specializing in bridging the gap between independent retailers and brands. Audrey hopes to find a role in the digital marketing/e-commerce realms.

BETSY LIN SEDER | Travel Photography
University of California, Irvine, M.F.A., Studio Art
New York University, M.A., Interactive Telecommunications
Brown University, B.A., Modern Culture and Media

Betsy Lin Seder’s art explores the unconscious of architecture and sites. Seder recently exhibited her work in the three-person show Kevin Appel, Betsy Lin Seder, Canon Hudson at Samuel Freeman Gallery in Los Angeles. She has had solo exhibits at Las Cienegas Projects and Workspace in Los Angeles and has shown her work at Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Headlands Center for the Arts, Laguna Art Museum, The Torrance Art Museum, Center for Photography at Woodstock and Exit Art in NYC.  IN 2011, Seder was an artist-in-residence at Anderson Ranch Art Center in the fall of 2011. She received a BA from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media, a Masters in Interactive Technology from NYU in 2002 and an MFA from UC Irvine in 2010.  Seder has since taught at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and University of California in Riverside, California. During the summer of 2014, she was an artist fellow at the Terra Foundation in Giverny, France.