I am a translator and international educator with a commitment to environmental justice and translatability.

I graduated from Radcliffe College, attended graduate school in Freiburg, Germany, and lived in Germany for more than six years. After jobs in factories, offices, and German media outfits, I embarked on a career in non-profit work at the New York Zoological Society, the New York Public Library, and Bard College.

At Bard, I was lucky to work under President Leon Botstein from 1985 - 2017, first as Vice President for Development and Public Affairs, helping to raise more than $50 million, and then as Founding Director of the Institute for International Liberal Education and Vice President for Special Global Initiatives. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, we began bringing students from “emerging democracies” to Bard to support and learn from them.

Thirty years later, more than 500 students have attended this program, and Bard offers dual degree liberal arts programs with partners in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, and Germany. I serve as Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of Bard College Berlin and am a member of the Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative (BTTI).

An active translator from German to English, I have published works of philosophy (Theodor W. Adorno and others), musicology, and poetry (Paul Celan), as well as a novel, a memoir, and works on politics and media. Original essays on translation and international education have appeared in In Other Words, Journal of Studies in International Education, Liberal Education, Logos (in Russian), New German Critique, The Musical Quarterly, and World Policy Journal. I am a member of the Board of Advisors of Words Without Borders.

 In 2012, I co-founded the all-female energy collective Citizens for Local Power (CLP) with a group of amazing women and now serve as President of CLP’s Board of Directors. We are a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to helping communities in the Mid-Hudson region transition to a locally-based clean energy economy. CLP works on policy and regulatory issues, including utility rate cases; fights the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure; and is currently leading a campaign to “Empower Kingston” together with local grassroots organizations, non-profits, churches, service organizations, and the city of Kingston, NY. The campaign focuses on community engagement in energy planning, green jobs training, and education.

I have two amazing daughters, Jennifer and Amy Kapczynski, and four grandchildren. I live in Rosendale, NY, and love to hike, read, and work.