ESP Biography



BEN GARDNER-GILL, Stanford senior, historian



Major: History

College/Employer: Stanford

Year of Graduation: 2019

Picture of Ben Gardner-Gill

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I'm a senior at Stanford majoring in History and writing an honors thesis entitled "Crossing a Bridge of Memory: Historical Roots of Populist Political Development in the Czech and Slovak Republics." I'm interested in populism, nationalism, historiography, language policy, and identity in politics. I also have a deep love of teaching. I taught middle school debate for four years while I was in high school, and have taught various formats of high school debate through my three plus years in college. I have also assisted in helping teach new students who join my school's Model UN and Debate clubs, in both high school and college. I've also had the pleasure to teach three Splash classes in years past. Through these experiences, I've developed a love of teaching, and so I'm incredibly excited to teach at Splash!



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

H6644: European Populism: Causes and Consequences in Splash Fall 2018 (Dec. 01 - 02, 2018)
This class investigates European populism as a long-term historical trend, examining a few prominent explanations for populist successes as well as the effects of populist politics on governance and discourse.


H4559: Around the World in 80 Accents in Splash Fall 2015 (Nov. 07 - 08, 2015)
Accents are fun to do, and we'll try our hand at doing some. But what are we trying to emulate? What in an accent keys us into its fundamental character? We'll explore this together for a wide variety of accents, and come up with some theories as to what's the key thing for particular accents.


S4589: Two and a Half Agnostics: Theology and Religion from Three Perspectives in Splash Fall 2015 (Nov. 07 - 08, 2015)
A theist, an antitheist, and an agnostic atheist walk into a lecture hall, and the class begins! Learn about what these terms mean, the history of religion, and the nature of truth itself.